I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: ELFIN SADDLE-Wurld (2010).

Yesterday I mentioned the Wurld DVD.  Today I wanted to talk about the music.

There are three songs that come on the audio extras portion of he DVD: “Wurld Soundtrack (abridged),” “A River of Horses” and “A Tree in Dark Water/A Sinking Celebration.”  The “Wurld Soundtrack” is indeed the music from the film.  The abridged version is about 15 minutes long, while the movie is about 23.  I’m not sure what got cut or why it needed to get cut, but it’s a good reference to the movie–dark, a little creepy with moments of beautiful melody.

“A River of Horses” is dominated by a xylophone melody and a cool piano riff.  It has a loping quality that I really like.  It’s instrumental (and serves as one of the main themes of the DVD).  “A Tree in Dark Water” is a slower dirge-like piece which features Honda’s “Da Da Dee Da” vocals.  It more or less morphs into “A Sinking Celebration” which has a sound not unlike a carnival, but a very slow, almost sad carnival.  Both of these songs work as backing music for other aspects of the DVD–I’m not sure if they were songs first that they decided to use for the DVD or vice versa.

For the full Elfin Saddle experience, though, it’s worth watching the live show that comes on the DVD.  The show is a 7 song set that they performed before the opening of the Wurld exhibit in Montreal.  So yes, this show was performed Live at the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art.  Nearly all of the songs come from their debut album Ringing for the Begin Again.

The band plays a kind of droney world music. And it has a very homemade feel–cobbled together, but brilliantly.  There’s an accordion, a bowed saw and a bunch of other percussive items–things that look like found metal.  There are two singers, Jordan McKenzie does most of the singing and he sings in a deep voice and sometimes in a higher voice that has a middle eastern feel.  Emi Honda is Japanese and that’s evident in her intonations, whether she is singing backing or lead vocals.  The band is also utterly multi-instrumental. McKenzie sings, plays accordion and xylophone at the same time (must be seen to be believed) while Honda switches from saw to ukulele to drums all in one song.  She also later bows cymbals for a very eerie sound.  Although they make most of the noise themselves, they are accompanied by a cellist and a double bass (which acts as a percussive time keeper).  Once they add a tuba, the song sounds much more klezmerish (although there are elements of klezmer throughout).

In the background of the show, on the projection screen, is the spinning wurld from their art exhibit.  The whole show is mesmerizing.  Songs include: “The Bringer,” “Sakura,” ” Muskeg Parade,” “Wind Songs,” “Garden,” ” The Procession,” ” The Ocean.”

[READ: October 15, 2012] Five Dials #25B

The issue continues the theme of the short story and Frank O’Connor.  It features a hugely long story by Nathan Englander and a couple more unusual short stories as well.  I enjoyed Part 2 of the Cork Issue more than Part I.

CRAIG TAYLOR-A Letter from the Editor: On Englander and Lists
In addition to introducing us to Nathan Englander and wondering if we’ve all read his award-winning book What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, Taylor talks about lists.  The staff was pooled for their opinions with the intent to make it seem like the staff was an individual with specific tastes in Books, Music, Movies, Food, etc.

WITI IHIMAERA-Memoir: Under the Skin: on the making of the film Medicine Woman
This is an account of Ihimera’s life, how he was sickly when he was born and saved by a medicine woman. This story became the basis for his novella Medicine Woman.  He talks about the making the film of the book and also about  Merle Oberon, a Maori woman who passed as white.  She was a famous actress who was always lit to look very pale indeed.  She faced a tough decision and Ihimera used that as the plot device for his book.

NATHAN ENGLANDER-Sister Hills
This is a story taken from What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank.  This is one of the longest pieces I can remember in Five Dials.  It talks of the history of the foundation of Israel as starting from two “sister hills.” There were two families, one is blessed with a big family and the other sees her family die one by one.  The struggles of Israel are tied to these two families.  And as we travel through history, the end shows the current state of affairs there.  I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this.

FRANK O’CONNOR-The Majesty of the Law
This two-part issue of Five Dials has been hyping up Frank O’Connor quite a lot.  And man did this story live up to the hype.  Set in rural Ireland, this is a simple story of a policeman visiting an old friend.  What is so great about this story is the care that O’Connor puts into the details.  The way the men talk to each other, the deference reserved for the policeman, the deference the policeman gives to the old man–the two are clearly friends, but are still maintaining an air of formality is all great.  (The dialogue is hilarious too).  So when the story reveals that the policeman actually had a purpose for the visit (it wast just for tea and a chat), the story jumps ahead leaps and bounds into a very orderly chaos.  Fantastic.  And very funny.

JOHN F. DEANE-Renegade
This is a short story about a boy who goes fishing with his father (I can;t get over how many stories are written about fishing).  The boy is promising but when he gets the special lure stuck in the rocks, his father wades out to get it and it makes the boy very uncomfortable.  In the second half of the story the dad invites the boy to shoot a rabbit.  And the ending ties everything together very nicely.  A very good story.

TANIA HERSHMAN-The Special Advisor
This story was wonderfully bizarre.  A man gets a job which is described as: “When there is a summary execution anywhere in the world, you tell us what you think.”   The last person to hold the job is not spoken of at all (did he die? go crazy?).  He has very little to do, although he does handle a couple of executions and he does a good job giving his opinion.  And he admits he really can’t shake the information about the people who were executed (one wrote poetry).  Then he meets another Special Advisor (he advises about different things). They hit it off as they both have oddly strenuous jobs.

Soon, the two Advisors begin hanging out all the time.  The other advisor takes the protagonist out for dinner.  They discuss octopi and how amazing the are.  And then they go to see the octopus in a special research laboratory, where the woman in charge talks all about octopi and reveals a surprise .  The story ends in a very weird way as the researcher begins talking with the protagonist and reveals much more than he could imagine.  The story kept getting more and peculiar, but I was fully engaged the whole time.

I really enjoyed this issue quite a lot.