A car chase scene without a car chase theme is a visual bore, just another fast edit of a couple of cars driving around. The action genre’s favored scenario — suited men with guns chasing suited men with guns — has visible creative limits; it needs the handicap of strong and propulsive music to make the action active. Soundtracks enliven the traffic. But a sturdy score, once disembodied, can swing alone; it has no need for a visual complement. Aced would be a prime example, if not for its independence, composed outside of any movie production, sequence, or scheme. Malone leaves the action for the listener to conjure, dropping hints in the intertitles (“Cleaving Warpath’s Orange,” “Bystander Paradise,” “Now We Are Dimmer”). This listener prefers to conjure no images of visual bores or creative limits. Aced is neither disembodied nor beheaded, it stands on its own, with head and body, shoulders to toe, toned and fleshy. Anyway: nothing to see as we ride roped, gagged, and blindfolded in the trunk of Malone’s sexy getaway car.
• Yves Malone: http://yvesmalone.com
