Nick Cave and Warren Ellis – White Lunar

Album Reviews • Wednesday November 11th, 2009 • 9:21 am

White Lunar, a compilation of soundtrack compositions by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, comes accompanied by a brief, explanatory note from the artists, identifying the sources of the album’s material: Three feature films, including The Proposition, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, and John Hillcoat’s yet-to-be-released The Road, as well as a pair of documentaries from the UK and a selection of unused, archival pieces from the duo. What the brief liner notes don’t explain—and indeed, what is completely absent from the album’s packaging—is exactly how this material is arranged over these two discs: There aren’t even song titles listed, much less an indication of which tracks come from which films, and the casual listener would be forgiven for thinking that all of these compositions come from the same place – which, in a sense, they do.

In other words, the aesthetic that Cave and Ellis are working with is remarkably consistent, and though this material is culled from a variety of sources and was recorded over the span of four years, White Lunar is a unified and focused collection. Part of that, of course, is because of the source material: The Proposition and Jesse James are both spare, unadorned movies, expressive but unsentimental, and both are thoughtful works punctuated by harrowing bursts of violence and an undercurrent of darkness. Given the source material — and the fact that it’s directed by The Proposition’s Hillcoat, to say nothing of the musical clues offered here — it’s fair to assume that The Road will be cut from the same cloth.

But more than that, White Lunar is a testament to the unbroken mind-meld between Cave and Ellis. They’re committed to exploring every corner of their chosen aesthetic, and the material here is striking in its focus, particularly on the first disc. It all matches the tone of the films in question, spare and full of feeling but not romantic or idealized. It’s not symphonic work, but the warm interplay between two musicians who have been working together for decades: Ellis is, for the first time, the star of the show, his evocative violin playing accounting for most of the melody here and occasionally being layered and overlapped into a one-man quartet. Cave plays piano and guitar, and provides some softly-sung vocals on a handful of tracks. Musically, there’s a great debt to minimalist classical music here, but also hints of folk and blues, befitting the rustic settings of the movies scored here.

It’s not a particularly lively set, nor does it possess any of the grim violence of some of the Bad Seeds’ work. Everything here takes on a melancholy, elegiac tone, as though Cave and Ellis are exploring the remorseful aftermath of bloodshed rather than the heat of the moment itself. Ironically, then, the set’s greatest attribute — its consistency of mood — can also be its greatest drawback, as the music can settle into a quiet groove that makes it too easily fade into the background. But that’s not really such a great problem, as these compositions are made not for excitement but for contemplation, and as such this is an effective and transporting summation of this very fruitful collaboration.

Tagged as: soundtrack, UK