Started
in London in the summer of 1996 by Glen Johnson and Dick
Rance, and inspired by the revolving door policy of bands
such as This Mortal Coil or The 6ths, allowing members
to come and go as they wish, Piano Magic has known countless
incarnations. Since its formation, over thirty members
have contributed to the various Piano Magic releases,
amongst whom Pete Astor (The Wisdom Of Harry) and Darren
Haynes (Hefner). Glen Johnson remains the only guardian
of the temple, and the main creative mind behind the band.
When Spanish film director Bigas Luna heard a track from
Piano Magic’s 1998 album Low Birth Weight in
a record store in Barcelona, he decided to ask Johnson
to compose the soundtrack for his latest movie, Son
De Mar. Meaning ‘The Sound Of The Sea’ or ‘Born Of
The Sea’, the film is a story of love tainted of eroticism
and deceit, which was received rather well when presented
at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. The soundtrack,
the first Piano Magic release for 4AD, is a short collection
of six untitled tracks. Dense and atmospheric, the compositions
are beautiful, restrained, and undisturbed by any vocal
incursions. Using electronics wisely, Piano Magic also
rely on languorous guitars and striking strings to capture
the artistic license of Luna’s movie. It is difficult
to isolate one particular moment as each track contributes
to the distinctive ambience of this record. There are
notions of time passing, with church bells and clocks
making up asymmetric rhythmic structures; of seasons changing,
going from a warm summer evening on track two, to a cold
and damp November day on track four. The only recurrence
here being the sound of the sea, which creeps in a little
too often, becoming by the end a worn out cliché.
This soundtrack is, however, evocative in its own right,
and works beautifully without the pictures it was composed
to support.
Johnson and his band have created, with Son De Mar,
a beautiful, emotional, piece of ambient work, encapsulating
the true essence of Bigas Luna’s aesthetic, without negating
their own imagery. Son De Mar is a captivating
record by all means.
5/5 |
