Album Review

Nick Cave and Warren Ellis The Proposition Original Soundtrack

Release Date: February 21, 2006
Label: Mute Records

6.0

Reviewed: Mar 7th 2008 ·

Review
Tracklist
Abstract

Let's
make one thing clear: The Proposition
is an original film score. Those expecting a new Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
or Dirty Three record may feel some measure of disappointment. The music
accompanies The Proposition, the
to-be-released feature film (screened at Sundance this year) that boasts a
screenplay also written by Cave. It's a western set in the nineteenth-century
Australian outback; stars Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Emily Watson and Danny Huston;
and has all of the murder, heartbreak, and damaged spirituality that we would
expect from the pen of Nick Cave.
The
songs, too, have a feel about them that is unmistakably linked to Cave, but Warren
Ellis, Cave's partner on the score, leaves his own indelible mark. Ellis, a
longtime collaborator and occasional band member of Cave's, is responsible for
the haunting violins that are the cornerstone of this soundtrack. Whether
lurking in the background or beautifully ebbing and flowing as they do on "Queenie's
Suite," Ellis's playing is as much the star of the score as Guy Pearce is of
the film.
Much
of what comprises The Proposition
soundtrack is a jarring combination of Ellis's traditional strings and an
ominous drone. Imagine the work of Barry Adamson or Angelo Badalamenti with
David Lynch, only with more of an embrace of period instrumentation. The
majority of songs are purely instrumental, some with only a moan or whisper
floating just underneath the surface. Cave doesn't even utter a word until the
sixth track, "The Rider #1." The album closes with "The Rider Song" and "Clean
Hands, Dirty Hands," a pair of songs that are slightly more in keeping with
Cave's Bad Seeds output. As a film score, The
Proposition is undeniably successful at establishing mood, setting, and
context. Its audience lies somewhere on the path between the art-house and the
Virgin megastore.