Will Oldham & Jim O'Rourke - "Ebb's Folly"
(Atavistic Records, 1996)
This song is from the soundtrack to the black and white 1996 documentary film Dutch Harbor: Where The Sea Breaks Its Back. It's about the effects of the encroachment of modernized society on the traditional lifestyle of the Aleutian people, specifically those of Unalaska Island. (Though my research finds that Dutch Harbor is actually on its neighboring island, called Amaknak Island... hmm.) Read more about the flick here. This is the only song with vocals on the whole album, plus it's the penultimate track, right before a gentle lilting piece, so it really stands out.
Read the incredibly cryptic lyrics here, though I'm not sure if they're official, since they're not printed in the CD booklet. I've still never seen the film, but I did buy the CD right when it came out, through Atavistic Records mailorder in summer of '97. It was just a good hunch that paid off. It is impossible to not be moved by Will Oldham's fragile vocals, and in my opinion this song shows it off better than any other song by him in all of his guises (Will Oldham, Palace, Palace Music, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, etc.), aside from maybe Palace's "Stablemate". Oldham is credited with vocals and acoustic guitar, while Jim O'Rourke did all the background soundscaping, including the atonal noise finale. The melodic flow of the song is very dramatic and soul-stirring, especially when you know that the climax is coming. I also bought Palace's Arise Therefore album that summer, though I stupidly skipped a Palace concert at the Mermaid Lounge the previous fall. (I finally saw him live in 2004.) Anyway, I can't urge you strongly enough to buy or download this soundtrack. I remember the summer of '97 as being very hectic, with me finding out about all kinds of new bands, going to lots of concerts, transferring to a new college, meeting girls from AOL in real life, getting an array of reptilian pets, etc. This soundtrack provided a perfectly serene and haunting counterpoint, a head-clearer. The album as a whole is credited to The Boxhead Ensemble, a nebulous "all-star" group made up of cool dudes from the Chicago / Louisville post-rock (the original meaning of the term "post-rock") axis. It included members of Tortoise, Gastr Del Sol, Pinetop Seven, Eleventh Dream Day, etc. Each track has a different lineup of members playing a semi-improvised tune, ranging between 1 and 13 minutes, for a total length of 70 minutes. I really believe future generations will place this soundtrack on the highest pedestal of achievement within the genre. Even the photos (film stills) in the CD booklet are stunning, and everything is done in grays and white, with some silver accents.
Back in the day, I cut out a 4-finger (4-star) review of the album from Alternative Press, by Mitch Myers. Here's an excerpt:
"The net result of this altered summit is a series of compelling instrumentals that ranges between the brittle and the atmospheric. Operating in several similarly manned configurations, the Boxhead Ensemble exhibit the ability to change themselves musically without losing sight of their job as empathetic accompaniments to a visual art. As an added bonus, Palace brother Will Oldham sings a song with O'Rourke that the two wrote expressly for this project. Serving as a perfect introduction to the cutting-edge Chicago improv scene as well as an unusual soundtrack recording, Dutch Harbor provides a safe and sumptuous haven for those in search of adventure."
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| VHS cover |
Planets with similar climates: Cat Power - "Keep On Runnin'" (1998/2003), American Music Club - "Big Night" (1987) & "Will You Find Me?" (1992), Palace - "Stablemate" (1996), Idaho - "If You Dare" (1995).
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