Nick Cave and Warren Ellis - White Lunar (2009)

It really is no surprise Nick Cave and Warren Ellis pair up and create music for motion pictures and documentaries; they both seem to glow in each other’s company and gel both on and off stage.

"White Lunar" is a double CD compilation of the pieces from motion pictures and documentaries such as The Proposition (their first joint score), The Road (not yet released), The Assassination of Jesse James (a movie which seemed to go on forever...), The English Surgeon, The Vaults and The Girls of Phnom Penh (2009).

Musical scores play a huge part in movies and often you may leave the cinema haunted by certain music in a scene, which is certainly how this album gets you; by taking on its own life and delving into the motor neurons to twist them and occasionally hang them out to dry, but also sometimes leaving you flicking to the next tune.

Have a think about how many times you see a movie and think how beautiful the score is, how well it fits with a tear-jerking scene or a scary vignette or even the driving scene and how many times you re-listen to it after buying the CD, but it never does it justice.

You play the CD, but just don’t get the same sense as you felt when experiencing it during the film. Well, this album is a little like that at times.

Don’t get me wrong: the pieces are beautiful and the music superb and the violin action is amazing but I don’t know if it will be a CD on high rotation.

CD One has big, big themes and the big orchestra, whilst CD Two is fractured, haunting and badly behaved.

Martha’s Dream from The Proposition is one stand-out song; rattling instruments that get into your bones, then the violin takes hold and has you peering over your shoulder.

The Rider No.2 (The Proposition) has Cave’s haunting vocals layered and work so well with the song, and then Ellis’s violin seeps in abruptly and leaves no stone unturned.

Songs from The Road are vastly piano-based and casual violin whilst pieces from Assassination of Jesse James are mellow tunes which inflict a smidge of loneliness intertwined with heart-wrenching piano and that happening violin.

Girls of Phnom Penh, The Vaults and The English Surgeonare all on CD Two. First song Srey Leak (Phnom Penh) has timely effects over some interesting sounds of the pipe-blowing variety, whilst Me Nea strives to perfect violin and deep thumps that infiltrate the senses.

Halo (The Vaults) has slower yet heavier violin and Magma haunts us with harmonies from Ellis like some serious shit is going down in the movie.

Zanstra has a more intense violin sound and the xylophone creeps in for Back Silk (English Surgeon).

Let me warn you; once CD Two has finished, there is silence and then boom - beware of the loud gyrating noise that erupts and spews forth; it’s that secret song that you wish had been left out of the mix.

RATING: 3 out of 5

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