 |
Storytelling
Given Belle & Sebastian's eccentric way of doing things, it's hardly surprising that their soundtrack to the Todd Solondz movie Storytelling did not work out quite as planned. Plenty of bands have written scores to imaginary movies. Belle & Sebastian, however, have composed an imaginary soundtrack to an existing movie; only six minutes of this music was actually used in the film, and much of it was completed after the film was released. The weird thing is, it all fits together rather nicely. Storytelling is a more consistent beast than the last couple of B&S albums; the discipline of writing (vaguely) to order seems to have made the band perversely less uptight. Stevie Jackson's ambling harmonica piece, "F*** This S***," is a close cousin to his beautiful work with the Bill Wells Trio--and also, explicitly, Dylan's soundtrack to Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid. Amidst the lilting instrumentals and snatches of dialogue from Solondz's fine movie is a clutch of quietly impressive songs. "Black and White Unite" continues Stuart Murdoch's artful reorganization of the legacies of Love and Simon & Garfunkel, while on "I Don't Want to Play Football" he chooses to stereotype himself further as the sickly child always picked last at games. Best of all, there's "Storytelling" itself, in which Sarah Martin pursues the issues of authorial responsibility tackled by Solondz in the movie. "In directions, actions, and words, cause and effect, you need consistency," she politely chastises, targeting Solondz as much as his characters. --John Mulvey
Buy
Tracks| 1 | Fiction | | 2 | Freak | | 3 | Dialogue: Conan, Early Letterman | | 4 | Fuck This Shit | | 5 | Night Walk | | 6 | Dialogue: Jersey's Where It's At | | 7 | Black And White Unite | | 8 | Consuelo | | 9 | Dialogue: Toby | | 10 | Storytelling | | 11 | Dialogue: Class Rank | | 12 | I Don't Want To Play Football | | 13 | Consuelo Leaving | | 14 | Wandering Alone | | 15 | Dialogue: Mandingo Cliche | | 16 | Scooby Driver | | 17 | Fiction Reprise | | 18 | Big John Shaft |
Copyright © 2008 NetVision. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Statement
|
