David Holmes - Ordinary Love '2019

Tracks list

Norn Iron’s Touch Sensitive keep it close to holmes (sorry!) with label
co-founder David’s quiet soundtrack of string arrangements for the new
Liam Neeson flick set in Belfast

“Touch Sensitive is proud to present its third release with Ivor Novello
and Bafta Award-winning modern master of the soundtrack, David Holmes, working
in collaboration with composer Brian Irvine. Set in Northern Ireland, directed
by Holmes’ longtime friends Glenn Leyburn and Lisa Barros D’Sa
(Good Vibrations, Cherrybomb), and written by legendary Irish playwright Owen
McCafferty (whom Holmes has known for forty years), the film tells the
extraordinary story of Tom (Liam Neeson) and Joan (Lesley Manville) - their life
and love as they enter the uncertainty and upset of Joan’s cancer
diagnosis.

In a career rich in highly personal work, Ordinary Love is up there with the
most affecting in Holmes’ canon. Recorded between Abbey Road and
Holmes’ own Drama Studio, the soundtrack features input from some of his
most trusted collaborators. Holmes states: “I worked on the score with
Brian Irvine. He is a longtime friend and the first person I ever had studio
experience with 27 years ago. It felt important to work with Brian on this as
his father (Ronnie), Owen’s father (Gerry) and my father (Jackie) - all
now deceased - were great friends through a shared love of Point-to-Point horse
racing and their work as bookmakers. For the three of us to work together on
this was an opportunity I couldn’t ignore.” There is also
contributions from Holmes’ bandmates, Jade Vincent and Keefus Ciancia,
who comprise the trio Unloved. The group’s sound has been central to the
much lauded Killing Eve soundtracks, which saw Holmes and Ciancia pick up a
Bafta in 2019. Vincent provides a stand-out performance - lending her haunting
and smoky vocals to the albums centrepiece and final track - ‘Isn’t
It So’.

The score to Ordinary Love wasn’t inspired by any other soundtrack or
even musical composition but by a mathematical theory called The Game of Life.
Devised by mathematician John Conway in 1970, The Game of Life is not your
typical computer game. It consists of a collection of cells which, based on a
few mathematical rules, can live, die or multiply as the cells form various
patterns throughout the course of the game. “Because of the nature of the
story, this really spoke to Brian and I in a musical sense and we started to
create the score with the notion that the notes in each cue resembled human
cells, living and dying as Joan’s journey with cancer unfolded.”
Much like the films recurring motifs - such as the couples regular hospital
visits - the score uses gentle rhythms and repetition to underline the comfort
and balance in Tom and Joan’s routine - even though a potentially
life-changing event looms over them. The score grounds the listener whilst
providing an almost dreamlike blank canvas in which to live and to love.
“Creating the score to Ordinary Love was by far the most challenging
I’ve ever worked on. The film is a very delicate piece and Tom and
Joan’s everyday life is very normal so trying to create a soundtrack that
not only felt like their world but had its own unique voice with real emotion
wasn’t easy.”

Tracklist:
01. David Holmes; Brian Irvine - Ordinary Love (1:27)
02. David Holmes; Brian Irvine - Mammogram (2:44)
03. David Holmes; Brian Irvine - Good Man (0:59)
04. David Holmes; Brian Irvine - Power Walking (0:59)
05. David Holmes; Brian Irvine - Peter And Steve (4:23)
06. David Holmes; Brian Irvine - To And Fro (1:35)
07. David Holmes; Brian Irvine - Itll Be Over In No Time (3:34)
08. David Holmes; Brian Irvine - Check Up (0:33)
09. David Holmes; Brian Irvine - Dreaming (1:34)
10. David Holmes; Brian Irvine - Mammogram Erased (2:42)
11. David Holmes; Brian Irvine - Chemotherapy (1:32)
12. David Holmes; Brian Irvine - More Power Walking (0:25)
13. David Holmes; Brian Irvine - Normal People (0:47)
14. David Holmes; Brian Irvine - Love (2:34)
15. David Holmes; Brian Irvine - Every Moment (0:44)
16. David Holmes; Brian Irvine - The Haircut (2:23)
17. David Holmes; Brian Irvine - Debbie (0:54)
18. David Holmes; Brian Irvine - MRI Again (1:04)
19. David Holmes; Brian Irvine; Jade Vincent - Isnt It So (4:32)

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