Portastatic - Looking for Leonard (Soundtrack)
(Merge)
Five years ago, the thought of Mac McCaughan of Superchunk scoring
a soundtrack to a movie seemed implausible. This is not to dismiss
the quality of the band's music, but the band themselves decided
to name their publishing mark "All the Songs Sound the Same." It
would have seemed like a stretch for the same songwriter to turn
around and make a soundtrack. Then, however, McCaughan released
the album The Nature of Sap under his Portastatic solo project,
which was a beautiful jazz-pop album, showing use of orchestration
only barely hinted at in McCaughan's prior releases.
The Nature of Sap makes the soundtrack for the independent
film Looking for Leonard (referring to songwriter Leonard Cohen)
less of a surprise. On the soundtrack,
which is made up entirely of the instrumental score he
composed. McCaughan offers new and interesting ways of providing
music for what seem like standard movie scenarios. "Funeral
Music" both sounds nothing like you'd expect music for a funeral
to sound like and seems entirely fitting for the emotional
range encountered when attending one. Atop a clacking beat,
the piano provides a very warm and fuzzy progression, suitable
for a lead actor staring off into the sunset or in the midst
of a long awaited embrace with his leading lady. Mid-song,
a searing electric guitar enters, breaking up the relaxed
contentment of family reunion-like setting. Similarly, "The
Chase" seems much too relaxed to actually be the music for a
chase. In the movies, the chase is supposed to be loud and fast,
mirroring the actions of the bodies. But McCaughan makes "The
Chase" a mirror of the actions of the mind, using a soft,
swaying guitar line to echo the determination of the pursuer.
Even when the active drums and second guitar blend in at the
end, the mind stays focused and assured, as the guitar line simply
continues on its steady course.
Two of the highlights of the soundtrack bookend the album,
"Sweethearts of the World" (two versions of which appear on the
album) and the main theme "Looking for Leonard Theme."
"Sweethearts of the World" opens up with a mariachi-style trumpet
intro before letting Margaret White's lyrical violin part carry
the song. The melody of the violin is very upbeat and jovial,
which is accented by an electric guitar upward progressions at
the end of each measure. Despite the fact that the violin is
the lead instrument, this song is very similar to McCaughan's
standard, Chunky pop songs. Add a few lyrics to the main "Theme,"
however, and it could by the first single of Superchunk's next
album. It's about all you could want from a Superchunk pop song,
except for Mac singing about breaking up with Laura Balance or
driving really fast in his hot new wheels.
It is interesting that McCaughan didn't enlist his
Wobbly Rail friends to help make this soundtrack a bit more
like The Nature of Sap, instead focusing on keyboards and
guitar, more similar to the stripped-down Portastatic albums.
Except for some drumming by his
brother Matthew and some violin from White, Mac performs the
soundtrack entirely on his own. As such, the emotion of the
lead piano and guitar are very prominent, with other instruments
mostly adding atmosphere and texture, something that would be
much harder to accomplish with a fuller band. I have a feeling
this music is very effective in the movie.
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