Jim Jarmusch has pretty sharp and discerning taste and his soundtracks over the years have used innovative music and been exquisitely curated:
— “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai” had an incredibly groundbreaking instrumental hip-hop score by the Wu Tan Clan’s RZA.
— “Dead Man” featured an amazingly evocative score based on guitar feedback by Neil Young
— “Night on Earth” utilized a whimsical, carnival-like score by the inimitable Tom Waits
— “Broken Flowers” had an eclectic soundtrack that included Holly Golightly, the Greenhornes, The Brian Jonestown Massacre and the achingly cool use of Ethiopian composer and musician Mulatu Astatke.
— etc., etc., see the rest of his peerless oeuvre.
Well, looks like Jarmusch has done it again. According to the trailer credits for “The Limits Of Control,” Japanese all-embracing metal band Boris have written music for the film. Or at least the credit says, “with music by Boris,” which suggests the film does more than use their old songs, but stops short of saying they wrote the score. The eclectic trio’s music can go from stoner and sludge metal to more ambient and doomy feedback drones — which by the sounds of the trailer are what the director is leaning towards. This makes sense: that hypnotic and ominous bent in their sound is not only incredibly cinematic, it seems to perfectly fit the elusive tone of the film’s “mysterious loner” character as played by lead star Isaach De Bankole.
Even better news for ambient doom metal enthusiasts, Stephen O’Malley of the Boris-collaborating experimental drone metal group SUNN O))) has confirmed on his website that Boris, and the collaborative effort, SUNN O))) & Boris, and the early ’90s minimalist drone pioneers Earth, are all part of the soundtrack. The Seattle-based Earth were founded by Dylan Carlson, a good friend of the late Kurt Cobain and by all accounts is probably the last friend to see him alive.
This is all pretty fantastic news. All of these bands’ version of black ambient soundscapes are magnificently expressive, moody and cry out to be used in a film. Of course leave it to someone like Jarmusch to keenly observe its massive potential. “The Limits Of Control” comes out May 22 in limited release. It’s definitely one of our most anticipated films of 2009.
Here’s an awesome atmospheric SUNN O))) & Boris track called, “The Sinking Belle (Blue Sheep)”
Sunn O))) & Boris – “Akuma No Kuma”
Earth – “The Dire and Ever Circling Wolves”