Things haven't been the same since that line from Pulp Fiction was sequenced into the beginning of the surf number that opens the ubiquitous soundtrack. It wasn't the first to prominently feature movie dialogue and relatively obscure music, but it was the first of its kind to be hugely popular. From then on, it became clear that you didn't need a John Williams composition or Whitney Houston's squeal to have success. Now, of course, you've got soundtracks featuring songs that aren't even in the movie. For the soundtrack is no longer just an accompaniment for the movie-goer-- it's an album all its own.
And you know it's moved from a trend to a standard when an indie staple such as Superchunk (and Merge Records) frontman Mac McCaughan-- under his side-project/alter ego Portastatic-- is slipping interesting dialogue into his soundtrack to the Canadian indie film, Looking for Leonard:
The woman denies stealing until the man points out the items she lifted. Then she questions his motivations, eventually asking:
During these last lines, where vicious skepticism shifts to unabashed hope, an acoustic guitar, light drum pattering and Margaret White's staccato violin fade in to ignite your visual imagination. A belated theremin only brightens the colors. Unless you've seen this unreleased movie, all you can do is wonder. Thus, Looking for Leonard shares one thing with blockbuster soundtracks, which often come out weeks before the movie: whether it meant to or not-- okay, probably not-- it acts as a promotional device.
That's not all it does, though. It swings, skips, mopes, loves, dreams-- in other words, it acts like a movie. Hints of last year's De Mel, De Melão, an EP of Brazilian covers, emerge sporadically throughout this 34-minute, entirely instrumental album. It opens, as most soundtracks do, with the title theme, which introduces those beautiful strings, as well as a quavering organ and a soaring guitar. It's the perfect mix of McCaughan's two major interests, combining the romanticism and wistfulness of tropicalia with the grounded guitarwork of Superchunk.
The final number, "Sweethearts of the World," opens with plaintive Brazilian horns before breaking into an infectious blend of thumping drums, multiple guitars strumming and picking, and, yes, mercurial strings. The incidental music that rests between these structured, bookending songs is more mood-oriented. Neither good nor bad, just there. Sometimes it's just a ringing tone and some slumping drumbeats, or simply the hum of a melodic organ, or maybe it's a slow, strummy passage you'd expect from Calexico.
Looking for Leonard is, without question, a film score. Most of the songs are hardly songs, in the structural sense, and the only batch of dialogue hasn't grown old yet. Furthermore, fans of McCaughan's forays outside of indie rock will not be disappointed, whether or not they've seen the film. Basically, Looking for Leonard is a good soundtrack made the old-fashioned way. You know, before Pumpkin and Honey Bunny stormed our speakers with guns and bile.
