NEW MOON SOUNDTRACK /// [VARIOUS ARTISTS]

Simply ONE of the Masses — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 04:39:17 +0000

Desolate and Brewing.

Album Review /// NEW MOON Soundtrack

You’ve got to hand it to them. Whoever “they” may be…The Twilight Saga: New Moon Soundtrack was released precursor, to countdown to the titled film’s big debut in November. And only if you’ve been living under a rock the past year, a massive one, would you not know that New Moon is the second instalment to the Twilight saga by Stephenie Meyer. And the soundtrack isn’t your typical candy tang Sweetart packaged for the girlie girls of this world. It opens up a whole realm of sullen treats for the brooding, the introvert, the bashful and the philosopher. With Thom Yorke from Radiohead, the Editors, Bon Iver, Grizzly Bear and OK Go on board – it’s no wonder that it appeals to indie heads and Twi fans alike. Call it education for the masses or a hodgepodge of all that is right with music these days in a heavy compilation packaged in sixteen strong offerings. The Killers tame it down in A White Demon Love Song, Death Cab for Cutie talk about endings in Meet Me at the Equinox, and Muse remixes it up with I Belong to You, just to name a few known heavy hitters. It’s a rampant contagious beat with Friends by Band of Skulls, an echoing frenzy with Bon Iver and St. Vincent, childlike monotony and a world of Possibility with Lykke Li, and could-it-be a swinging almost happy tune with The Violet Hour by Sea Wolf. I’d like to do nothing more than tear it apart track by track, listing all the yummy efforts that went into this portentous concoction, but alas I’d be Shooting quite literally for…the Moon. The Editors sum up the album best with the song No Sound but the Wind. (Note: To all the guys out there, thank God you can just buy the tracks from ITunes without ever having to carry the CD case…Because who are you kidding?! Even if you secretly liked the book saga, you wouldn’t be caught dead with that in hand.) Rest assured the album is one for the heartbroken and a marvel for those who prefer to sit in the shade; an eponymous record for the searching soul.

Get into the passenger seat, roll down the window and rest your bare feet on the warm dashboard. Break Up was meant to be a project among friends, enter Pete Yorn and Scarlett Johansson, shelved away for no one to hear. Not us anyway. Not until two years later when Yorn’s close circle convinced him to. It’s an original piece of work, with the exception of one Big Star cover, that supposedly pays tribute to the cult classic recordings of Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot. And so, Johansson is Pete Yorn’s Brigitte and the album, through duets for the most part, bares the soul of a relationship with all its glory, loneliness and bedlam. Garage studio-produced by Sunny Levine, it’s rewarded with an unrefined air, beckoning for the Jack Kerouacs of the world to hit the open road. The album is after entitled… Break Up. A terse collection of nine tracks, the recordings add a little ‘new’ to the old sounds of sun-drenched 70s California. Stirred in is a little bit of banjo, a splatter of synth bass, abrupt endings and an echoing conscience. It certainly walks to its own metronome, maybe even painfully crawls at times and in so doing, loses my interest. But despite the sleepiness of it, Johansson’s smoky pouting vocals attunes to the mellow of journeyman Yorn. It’s definitely an upgrade for the actress turned aspiring singer, who came out last year with a slight washout of a debut with Anywhere I Lay My Head, and a publicity feat for the New Jersey man himself, even if, at the outset their Bonnie & Clyde adventure was to be just their own.

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NEW MOON SOUNDTRACK /// [VARIOUS ARTISTS]