Trevor Dunn - Four Films [Tzadik - 2009]'Four Films' finds the highly respected & versatile Trevor Dunn(Mr. Bungle, Fantômas, many Zorn related/ based projects & loads of other projects) offer up a varied & highly consistent collection of film music which literal goes all over the music map with great flare, atmosphere & creativity. Joining Dunn to weave the varied & cinematic sonic fabric of the 26 tracks on offer here we have- Rob Burger: Rhodes, Marika Hughes: Cello, Tim Keiper: Percussion & Drums, Chris Speed:Clarinet, Kenny Wollesen: Drums,Shelley Burgon: Harp &Voice,and Olivier Conan: Voice. But the rest of the assorted instrumentation are played by Dunn himself as he wonderfully utilizes all manner electronic & acoustic instrumentation to paint the rich, emotional varied & dramatic tracks. A few of my present favourite moments come in the form of: The wondering & waving surf bass lines, Rhodes & guitar of ‘The Boardwalk’. The tight, cheesy yet heroic disco pump of ‘Fire Disco’ with it’s French spoken word pomp-ness & over driven 80’s guitar solo. ‘Isabella’ with it’s thoughtful & heartbreaking piano/ guitar darting beginning that soars into to rich & emotional orchestration. The chugging & cold new wave meets surf guitar of ‘Glendale Drive’ that opens into tuneful indie guitar pop. ‘Paris whore” with its slow bopping; though slightly melancholy smoky jazz Rhodes runs, clarinet pipe and double bass wonderings- really there's so much great stuff on offer here. And the thing that makes this more approachable than some film music collection is that Dunn has mixed up the tracks from the four films; so you don’t just have four separate blocks of tracks- but a flowing & wholly consistent album. A wonderfully played, conceived & executed selection of music from Dunn- which shows him as a muilt- talented instrumentalists, mood maker & composer able to turn his hand to any genre he fancies with really passion, talent & understanding Roger Batty
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