Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - The Proposition OST

Friday, October 14, 2005
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - The Proposition OST Current mood: dirty
Hi, so the soundtrack is out now but I havn't gotten it yet.
As you all well know my love for the man, the man that is Nick Cave, and all that he does--there is perhaps another man whom I believe is somewhat of an unsung hero. This man is Warren Ellis. He has been apart of NC's band the Bad Seeds for quite some time now. A multi-instrmentalist who usualy comes brandishing a rather dirty violin. Oh boy, have I come to love the sounds he makes with just a few strings tied to a peice of wood. Ever since I picked up No More Shal We Part I've been a fan ever since; even before that I've come to realise his work on the earlier PJ Harvey records. While occasionally adding distortion to his violin he brings glorious feed-back that would fill any viod, sonicly and stylishly.
Speaking of filling voids, did I mention Warren lavishly plucks and scratches in his own band? the Dirty Three, the all intramental new record 'cinder' does just that and more. Oh my, arn't they playing this monday night at the Bowery Ballroom? yes, i beleive so. Here are some links, yes, I'm going too.
You can watch the video for the Dirty Three single Great Waves (featuring Chan "Cat Power" Marshall) at the Touch and Go site.http://www.touchandgorecords.com/Another track, Doris, off the new album Cinder can be heard here:http://www.touchandgorecords.com/bands/album.php?id=365
So, to get back to my point, why not celebrate the brilliance of two geniuses(Nick AND Warren) and pick up the soundtrack to this new film. Read on and find out why you'll love it too, you fuckers!
love,
chris
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Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - The Proposition OSTA powerful western drama set in the savage Eden of 1880s Australia, The Proposition is an elemental story of family conflict and primal violence, destructive love and divided loyalties. Featuring an international superstar cast including Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Emily Watson and Danny Huston, it is directed by John Hillcoat from a specially commissioned script by the globally acclaimed singer-songwriter Nick Cave. "Because of Nick's narrative songwriting, the characters are so vivid," says Hillcoat. "I knew something really good would come out of it."Cave has also composed the film's soundtrack in conjunction with Warren Ellis, his longtime Bad Seeds collaborator and multi-instrumentalist frontman of The Dirty Three. Incorporating soft chamber pieces, ghostly moodscapes and whispered laments, these 16 tracks are as starkly beautiful as the landscape of the film. Story and music are closely intertwined."I always heard it musically, and I guess it's written rhythmically as well" Cave explains. "It's very similar to the way my band operates. There are moments of intense violence and there are also moments of long, lyrical, quiet sadness."But the resulting soundtrack is emphatically different to a Bad Seeds or Dirty Three record. While some of these pieces grew from improvised accompaniment to big-screen projection, many also incorporate violin loops pre-recorded by Ellis at his home studio in France."It was very different to making a normal record," Ellis says. "There were no boundaries in that respect, and I enjoyed much more than I thought I would. The music had to be very flexible, and as a result it has a very improvised, loose feel. But that's fine. Beethoven and Mozart did not write with films in mind either."The soundtrack to The Proposition is punctuated by recurring motifs, fragments of church hymns and abstract avant-folk drones. The softly swelling title theme lends a melancholy signature refrain while 'The Rider' is a haunting ballad in which the scattered natural elements of a starlit landscape engaged in hushed conversation. For a highly distinctive songwriter like Cave, the composition process involved stepping back and allowing the timeless power of the music to speak for itself."I didn't want to have songs in it," he explains, "or Nick Cave songs, certainly. For me it was delicately balanced thing. On the one hand you don't want a historical movie with a real contemporary soundtrack, but nor did we want wall-to-wall Irish jigs. I didn't want songs to act as distraction."All the same, there is a smattering of more substantial songs on the album that will please fans of the Bad Seeds and Dirty Three. Cave and Ellis took great pains for the soundtrack to work as a stand-alone work in its own right. With 'The Rider Song' and 'Clean Hands, Dirty Hands', they lend a note of healing musical balm to the film's bittersweet, blood-splattered finale."The film ends a little tragically," Cave admits. "It doesn't end in a traditional Hollywood way. There was a feeling that there needed to be something redemptive, so when you've dusted your popcorn off your trousers you could walk out with a slightly joyful song in your heart."A musical journey from revenge to redemption, The Proposition is a richly textured new chapter in Cave's already illustrious body of work.The Proposition is released by Mute on 26th September 2005.