I imagine that being tasked with producing the score for a film is somewhat of a relief in the eyes of many musicians. Instead of being forced to go through the mental acrobatics of, “What general sound should I be looking to achieve with this album? No, but if I do that, it’ll sound too much like my previous album, and people will accuse me of being an unoriginal moldwarp with zero creativity. I know! I’ll just make a good ol’ fashion Christmas album. Everyone loves Christmas albums…,” the tone is already pre-prescribed by the movie itself. All one presumably has to do is compose according to the scene in question, with a conscious ear towards adjacent scenes, and of course, the film as a whole. I suspect any professionals in the field who might be reading this are now silently cursing me for oversimplifying their trade. My apologies, just in case.
Earth, a 2009 silent film from Singaporean artist and director Ho Tzu Nyen, which has been unsurprisingly recognized for its visuals, has reportedly seen its fair share of live soundtracking. In addition to Oren Ambarchi assuming the role at a performance in early 2011, Black to Comm a.k.a. Marc Richter provided the film’s accompaniment when, in 2010, it was showcased at Berlin’s Asian Film Festival and at the Unsound Festival in Krakow. Now, the latter has decided to formally propagate his work based on Earth in an album due out March 6 on De Stijl. Here’s what Richter himself has to say on the subject: “The film basically is a post-apocalyptic collage based on paintings by classical European painters (Caravaggio, Delacroix, Rembrandt, Géricault) — the music tries to translate that concept employing similar collage-based sampling techniques using loops made from vintage vinyl and shellac records combined with acoustic and electronic instrumentation and voice.” All I ask is that it rival the quality of Alphabet 1968. Pretty please?
• Black to Comm: http://www.blacktocomm.org
• De Stijl: http://www.destijlrecs.com
