Nick Cave - White Lunar '2009

Tracks list

       Given their output, it’s certainly tempting to write about the
shared aesthetic philosophy of Nick Cave and Warren Ellis as film composers, but
that's actually beside the point. In fact, what’s most remarkable about
White Lunar, the double-disc collaborative retrospective compilation from film
scores by the pair, is how utterly “small” and atmospheric the work
is, especially considering that three of these films cover very large visual
landscapes. Two are Westerns: The Proposition — which Cave also wrote the
screenplay for and set in the Australian Outback — and The Assassination
of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. The third of these large-landscape
movies is The Road, based on the post-apocalyptic novel by Cormac McCarthy. Disc
one is comprised of the selections from the scores of these films, while disc
two contains music from The Girls of Phnom Penh and The English Surgeon, as well
as assorted unissued tracks from the duo's vaults. Each disc is compiled to
stand on its own. Disc one does so in a way that is quietly spooky and powerful
despite the minimal approach of the few instruments employed: violin, piano,
bass, guitars, some atmospheric keyboards, etc. Whether one has seen the films
orchestrated here hardly matters. The aural impressions are of loneliness,
solitude, vast stretches of emptiness, and physical as well as emotional
desolation. There are a couple of vocal tracks on disc one, mainly the
traditional “Happy Land,” which was totally rearranged — as
all good folks songs should be — by Cave, and “The Rider 2,”
which is vastly different from its instrumental counterpart that's here. This
disc alone is worth the purchase price; it stands as a testament to a working
method that is based on instinct and careful attention paid to interior space as
well as microscopic details in composition and mixing. Disc two is bookended
with cues from The Girls of Phnom Penh. The approach here is even more minimal
and a shade more dissonant. The use of keyboards is a bit more prevalent but not
in an intrusive way. It feels both emotionally distraught and physically
foreboding despite the quiet nature of the score. Tracks from the vaults and The
English Surgeon are alternated in between, a few from each, then repeated before
the disc ends. The vault tunes are little more than bits of ideas, articulated
enough so that something else might be built upon them. The music from The
English Surgeon, if not more lush, is more melodic and emotionally resonant of
melancholy, dread, and even tenderness. Ultimately, this is a fascinating,
provocative, and thoroughly enjoyable document on its own, though one would be
well advised to pick up the individual scores for the films on disc one as well.
~ Thom Jurek

1.01 - Warren Ellis - Song for Jesse (2:36)
1.02 - Warren Ellis - Moving On (2:32)
1.03 - Warren Ellis - What Must Be Done (1:58)
1.04 - Warren Ellis - Song for Bob (6:03)
1.05 - Warren Ellis - Happy Land (1:37)
1.06 - Warren Ellis - The Proposition #1 (3:25)
1.07 - Warren Ellis - Road to Banyon (1:40)
1.08 - Warren Ellis - The Rider #2 (3:00)
1.09 - Warren Ellis - Martha's Dream (3:08)
1.10 - Warren Ellis - Gun Thing (4:28)
1.11 - Warren Ellis - The Rider Song (2:31)
1.12 - Warren Ellis - The Road (3:46)
1.13 - Warren Ellis - The Mother (2:38)
1.14 - Warren Ellis - The Father (2:58)
1.15 - Warren Ellis - The Beach (2:58)
1.16 - Warren Ellis - The Journey (3:34)
1.17 - Warren Ellis - The Boy (3:11)
2.18 - Warren Ellis - Srey Leak (3:40)
2.19 - Warren Ellis - Me Nea (2:15)
2.20 - Warren Ellis - Rom (3:29)
2.21 - Warren Ellis - Halo (3:02)
2.22 - Warren Ellis - Zanstra (1:34)
2.23 - Warren Ellis - Black Silk (Suture) (1:02)
2.24 - Warren Ellis - Brain Retractor (1:22)
2.25 - Warren Ellis - Dandy Brain Cannula (2:19)
2.26 - Warren Ellis - Rat's Tooth Forceps (2:03)
2.27 - Warren Ellis - Kerrison's Punch (2:03)
2.28 - Warren Ellis - Micro Sucker (0:47)
2.29 - Warren Ellis - Window (1:52)
2.30 - Warren Ellis - Daedalus (1:55)
2.31 - Warren Ellis - Magma (3:16)
2.32 - Warren Ellis - Cheata (2:42)
2.33 - Warren Ellis - Sorya Market (Hidden Track) (19:31) 

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