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Whether or not the wonderful Mercury Rev is no more (this CD's promo materials say yes, but I just read elsewhere that Mercury Rev is working on a new project), that band's mostly instrumental alter ego, Harmony Rockets, is here with a new EP covering songs and incidental music from movies. The title track (from, of all things, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory) is presented in three versions, all featuring soprano soul diva Carmen Quiñones from labelmates Grand Mal. Mercury Rev was one of the few bands capable of conveying unadulterated joy without sounding sappy - and here, Harmony Rockets brings out the song's sense of bliss, fulfillment, and relief - a relief edged with the shadow of desperation from which the "golden ticket" promises deliverance. (Charlie Bucket, in the book and movie, was a boy from the most poverty-stricken of circumstances.) "Tale Scendeva L'Etternale Adore" (from The Life and Times of Jerzy Kosinski) provokes a sense of quiet, anticipatory dread - I've no idea how this music functioned in its original soundtrack, but here it's all murky, dark corners, long, abandoned hallways, and filmy shafts of light emanating from high, recessed windows. "L'Apocalypse des Animaux," from a film of the same name, soundtrack by, uh, Vangelis, is circus music - and Harmony Rockets never forgets the creepiness at the heart of the circus. The middle section of this song is an extended and gradually accretionary drone, reminiscent of the band's first album, which could have been the soundtrack to a film depicting an aircraft leaving the ground, filmed entirely in slow motion. Not, perhaps, an essential item, but effective in allowing listeners to enter a quasi-cinematic state, a soundtrack to an interior theatre. |
