February 2002 • Rockbites Alternative Daily
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February 2002 • Rockbites Alternative Daily
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The prolific Stephin Merritt releases solo debut 11 February 2002
The rather controversial film, which is Bolton’s first feature, explores a love relationship between a 29 year old soccer coach (played by Brent Fellows) and a 15 year old skateboarder (played by Giovanni Andrade) who initially find shared interests in music and American Sign Language. In an interview with Filmmaker magazine, Bolton explains why he invited Merritt to compose the soundtrack: “The lead character is very sensitive, and though a bit older, his maturity is more in line with the young boy with whom he is romantically involved. I wanted the music to mirror the tenderness of the personalities and some of the situations, but I also wanted music that would offset this very romantic story with a specific dissonance that is anchored in Eban’s repressed maturity. Stephin is a very prolific songwriter and exceptionally talented and very quickly identified what kind of sounds would work in the film.” The soundtrack LP, released by Chapel Hill, North Carolina’s Merge Records for the US on 22 January, is an inviting candy sampler of minimalist, understated tonal experiments mingling with painfully delicious love canticles. Running all of 36 minutes in length—nearly seven of which consist of a single piece based on stagey rainstorm sound effects (and titled Stage Rain)—the album comes across like a short story collection offering brief yet deep glimpses into the lives it describes. It is poignant and beautiful, disturbing and alluring. Four bites out of five. Rockbites ratings 5: life changing, 4: stunning, 3: captivating, 2: amusing, 1: annoying. Merritt is set to perform his last ever concert for his 1999 opus 69 Love Songs the first weekend in March at the Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall in New York city. | Stephin Merritt | | Interview with James Bolton from Filmmaker mag | | CD from Amazon US | | Merge Records | | top of page | |
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