Emmett Malloy, who directed the excellent White Stripes tour doc “Under Great White Northern Lights,” is now tackling one of the sacred touchstones for music fans everywhere: Nick Drake.
With the stamp of approval from the Drake estate, Malloy reveals that his extensive project will be “a nice, multi-layered piece” that will include a film, a book and a tribute album. Malloy, who is also a co-founder of Brushfire Records, believes he will be able to get some good talent to circle the album simply due to Drake’s name saying, “I know that with that [Drake] name, we’ll get some great ones. I’m just fighting my way through to get the artists I feel will do it justice. I’m excited to get going on it [because] there’s so many great songs.”
The confirmed line up for the album so far of Andrew Bird, Matt Costa and Jack Johnson (who is also a partner in Brushfire) is a bit uninspired, but there’s lots of room still left. No word yet on what shape the film will take, but certainly interviews with those who knew and/or were inspired by him isn’t out of the question.
As is the case with cult artists, there have been a few Drake documentaries in the past, but most of them have felt fan-made and unessential to say the least. Now that Malloy clearly proved himself with “Under Great White Northern Lights,” it’s probable that more and more people will open up to him and we’ll final have a definitive and very-watchable Nick Drake documentary. While he’s at it can he do one for Elliott Smith since the recent one sound pretty budget and unpolished?
Further details on the Drake project are scarce for now, and it appears to be in very early stages so don’t expect this one anytime soon. We anticipate it nonetheless. [Billboard via TwentyFourBit]