A thought occurred to me while listening to Clint Mansell and the Sonus Quartet launch into a stunning rendition of Death is the Road to Awe from the soundtrack to The Fountain at a recent Union Chapel gig. I thought, I know who'd love this: people. People would love this. Not just fans of film music, but fans of music. Anyone with ears, really.
Mansell's music could, and indeed should, sit comfortably alongside Sigur Ros, Mogwai and Godspeed You Black Emperor, it's as complex, tuneful and experimental as any of them. The reason he isn't considered their peer is simple: he makes film music.
The Union Chapel gig sold out with little advertising, but where would you advertise such a thing? The rock press? Film magazines? In music journalism and marketing, context seems massively important, but to the consumer it's virtually meaningless. Movies generate an amazing amount of music, almost all of them have an original score and much of it is just too good not to have a life after the end credits roll. Take Mansell's track Lux Aeterna. After its use on Requiem for a Dream it impressed Peter Jackson so much he used it on a trailer for The Two Towers. Since then it's been used on many more, it's been remixed by Paul Oakenfold and is all over TV, generating drama and suspense on such programmes as Sky Sports News and Britain's Got Talent. Not bad for a piece of music originally written to provide backing to scenes of a drugged Jennifer Connelly impaled on a double-ended dildo while her boyfriend has his infected arm amputated in prison. From there, to introducing the world to the Susan Boyle saga. Context, be damned.
Soundtracks often utilise innovative techniques and instruments. Take the late great Jerry Goldsmith, for example. His score for The Omega Man recorded a large bell being hit underwater to attain an unusual resonance, while his score for Star Trek: The Motion Picture used a Blaster Beam to create interstellar suspense. Think about that next time a rock band is hailed as being innovative just because they added a Korg to their lineup.
Of course, some bands do great work in movies. One of Can's best songs, Mother Sky, was written for the soundtrack to Deep End. Without that we wouldn't have the Horrors' new album. Imagine that. Occasional Polly Harvey musical foil Rob Ellis has just completed recording of the soundtrack to Elektra Luxx with the ceaselessly productive Robyn Hitchcock.
Lest we start feeling too sorry for Mansell, I should add that his music is everywhere. Even if you think you haven't heard him, you're probably wrong. With that in mind, it's not Mansell who's suffering, it's us.
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