This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2014/jun/19/david-lynch-film-king-mood-music-live-in-dreams

The article has changed 2 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Songs of praise to David Lynch, film's king of mood music Songs of praise to David Lynch, film's king of mood music
(35 minutes later)
David Lynch's influence on contemporary culture is undeniable; the icon of film, music and TV has been a looming presence over arts since 1977, when Eraserhead first rattled cinema audiences. David Lynch's influence on contemporary culture is undeniable; the American film and TV director, screenwriter and lyricist has been a looming presence over the arts since 1977, when Eraserhead first rattled cinema audiences.
Composer and multi-instrumentalist David Coulter was 16 when the film came out, and it stayed with him ever since. "I'd never seen anything like it," he says, ahead of In Dreams: David Lynch Revisited, a live homage to the songs and music from the director's films which takes place on Friday 20 June. "I've been a fan for years, and it's something that I'd always thought I could make into a show." Composer and multi-instrumentalist David Coulter was 16 when the film came out, and it stayed with him ever since. "I'd never seen anything like it," he says, ahead of In Dreams: David Lynch Revisited, a live homage to the songs and music from the director's films at London's Barbican. "I've been a fan for years, and it's something that I'd always thought I could make into a show."
The event features performances from the likes of Conor O’Brien of Villagers, Mick Harvey, Jehnny Beth of Savages, Cibo Matto, Sophia Brous, Stealing Sheep and Stuart Staples of Tindersticks. Here's what some of those performing regard as Lynch's most brilliant use of music.The event features performances from the likes of Conor O’Brien of Villagers, Mick Harvey, Jehnny Beth of Savages, Cibo Matto, Sophia Brous, Stealing Sheep and Stuart Staples of Tindersticks. Here's what some of those performing regard as Lynch's most brilliant use of music.
Jehnny Beth, Savages - Sycamore Trees by Jimmy Scott Jehnny Beth, Savages – Sycamore Trees by Jimmy Scott
My favourite track from a David Lynch creation is Sycamore Trees, sung by Jimmy Scott for the Twin Peaks series, with lyrics by Lynch and music by Angelo Badalamenti. I've always listened to jazz, but only recently discovered Jimmy Scott [who died earlier this month] after doing some research on the project for In Dreams. He was an American jazz vocalist with a very high contralto voice, which was very unusual due to a rare genetic condition. All these years I thought it was a woman singing Sycamore Trees, and then I discovered the genius behind the voice and how unjustly ignored he had been for so many years. His career and life is featured in a documentary called If You Only Knew. Since I discovered him, there hasn't been a day I don't play Jimmy Scott, especially from his album The Source, with his timeless version of the traditional Negro spiritual Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child. A must-listen!My favourite track from a David Lynch creation is Sycamore Trees, sung by Jimmy Scott for the Twin Peaks series, with lyrics by Lynch and music by Angelo Badalamenti. I've always listened to jazz, but only recently discovered Jimmy Scott [who died earlier this month] after doing some research on the project for In Dreams. He was an American jazz vocalist with a very high contralto voice, which was very unusual due to a rare genetic condition. All these years I thought it was a woman singing Sycamore Trees, and then I discovered the genius behind the voice and how unjustly ignored he had been for so many years. His career and life is featured in a documentary called If You Only Knew. Since I discovered him, there hasn't been a day I don't play Jimmy Scott, especially from his album The Source, with his timeless version of the traditional Negro spiritual Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child. A must-listen!
Dave Okumu, the Invisible - The Love Theme Dave Okumu, the Invisible – The Love Theme
I just rewatched Twin Peaks so this is very fresh in my mind, The Love Theme in particular. It's a really interesting piece of music. For me I quite like it when I don't notice the music in film or TV, but with that Twin Peaks music it's so much a part of the whole creation in a weird kind of way. I read an interview with Lynch's collaborator Angelo Badalamenti who was describing The Love Theme, and it really makes sense when he describes the process. It feels so unlaboured and intuitive. It feels like it has poured out naturally, not something that was slaved over for months. Apparently when when he wrote it he was sat in a room with David sitting next to him, describing the scene and what he wanted to evoke. David was saying things like: "We're in a dark forest and theres a soft breeze," prompting Badalamenti to start playing these chords. They're dark, crunchy and most importantly accessible; which is why I can see why they hit it off. They share something that's expressed in a different way: David Lynch has turned into this hip, cult dude and it's totally understandable, and people seem to focus on how surreal and imaginative he is; but I think the reason why he has such broad appeal is that at the heart there is something incredibly tangible and humane. There can be something unusual but there's this purity, almost childlike innocence to it and that's what makes it so cool. I just rewatched Twin Peaks so this is very fresh in my mind, The Love Theme in particular. It's a really interesting piece of music. For me, I quite like it when I don't notice the music in film or TV, but with that Twin Peaks music it's so much a part of the whole creation in a weird kind of way. I read an interview with Lynch's collaborator Angelo Badalamenti who was describing The Love Theme, and it really makes sense when he describes the process. It feels so unlaboured and intuitive. It feels like it has poured out naturally, not something that was slaved over for months. Apparently when he wrote it he was sat in a room with David sitting next to him, describing the scene and what he wanted to evoke. David was saying things like: "We're in a dark forest and there's a soft breeze," prompting Badalamenti to start playing these chords. They're dark, crunchy and, most importantly, accessible; which is why I can see why they hit it off. They share something that's expressed in a different way: David Lynch has turned into this hip, cult dude and it's totally understandable, and people seem to focus on how surreal and imaginative he is; but I think the reason why he has such broad appeal is that at the heart there is something incredibly tangible and humane. There can be something unusual, but there's this purity, almost childlike innocence to it and that's what makes it so cool.
Stuart Staples, Tindersticks – FallingStuart Staples, Tindersticks – Falling
Being asked to contribute to an evening of music from David Lynch films at the Barbican, I heard myself saying the words "I do have a long love affair with Falling, maybe I could sing that…" But it was the film Blue Velvet that began my love affair. We were all changed somehow, the scattering of people across the cinema as we stood up to shuffle out, after the screening of Blue Velvet. Sunday nights at the local independent cinema in the mid-80s in Nottingham was a chance to see something a bit more "interesting". That night, for our meagre £1.50, we got more than we had bargained for. There were silences in the pub afterwards, the excited retellings trailed off as we were happier to be left with our own thoughts of what we had just experienced. I can still enjoy drifting into those silences whenever I think about Blue Velvet.Being asked to contribute to an evening of music from David Lynch films at the Barbican, I heard myself saying the words "I do have a long love affair with Falling, maybe I could sing that…" But it was the film Blue Velvet that began my love affair. We were all changed somehow, the scattering of people across the cinema as we stood up to shuffle out, after the screening of Blue Velvet. Sunday nights at the local independent cinema in the mid-80s in Nottingham was a chance to see something a bit more "interesting". That night, for our meagre £1.50, we got more than we had bargained for. There were silences in the pub afterwards, the excited retellings trailed off as we were happier to be left with our own thoughts of what we had just experienced. I can still enjoy drifting into those silences whenever I think about Blue Velvet.
Conor O’Brien, Villagers – The Mysteries of LoveConor O’Brien, Villagers – The Mysteries of Love
What can you say about a song like Mysteries of Love from Blue Velvet? As with anything as heartfelt and timeless as this, it almost feels like any sort of descriptive or analytical effort is doing a disservice to the instinctive and tactile nature of its dark, mellifluous tones. But I'll give it a go. This is a song so unendingly beautiful that it takes you out of your body every time you hear it. It is a deeply moving love song which, over the course of its 38 words, manages to convey the often oppositional complexities of an ephemeral love ("Sometimes a wind blows and you and I float in love") which finds eternal life in its moment of execution ("and kiss forever in a darkness"). What kills me as a songwriter is the apparent simplicity of the expression as a whole, both lyrically and musically. I say "apparent" because Lynch himself wrote the lyrics in conjunction with Badalamenti's hanging, dreamlike score and it is the interplay between word and music (both brilliantly executed and extremely concise in their own right) which creates something that manages to be simultaneously otherworldly yet profoundly familiar. In addition to this, we have the seemingly innocent and angelic voice of Julee Cruise delivering the song in an almost emotionally neutral yet spellbindingly tender voice, which I believe propels the overall expression into the realm of the spiritual. By this I mean that the listener is ultimately left with an enduring empathy with the vital animating principle (or the "spirit") of the singer which, in this case and in the case of much of Lynch's work, is a tirelessly romantic and youthful idealism fighting for survival in the environs of a mad world, dreaming of a day when "the mysteries of love come clear / And dance in light / In me, in you / And show that we are love".What can you say about a song like Mysteries of Love from Blue Velvet? As with anything as heartfelt and timeless as this, it almost feels like any sort of descriptive or analytical effort is doing a disservice to the instinctive and tactile nature of its dark, mellifluous tones. But I'll give it a go. This is a song so unendingly beautiful that it takes you out of your body every time you hear it. It is a deeply moving love song which, over the course of its 38 words, manages to convey the often oppositional complexities of an ephemeral love ("Sometimes a wind blows and you and I float in love") which finds eternal life in its moment of execution ("and kiss forever in a darkness"). What kills me as a songwriter is the apparent simplicity of the expression as a whole, both lyrically and musically. I say "apparent" because Lynch himself wrote the lyrics in conjunction with Badalamenti's hanging, dreamlike score and it is the interplay between word and music (both brilliantly executed and extremely concise in their own right) which creates something that manages to be simultaneously otherworldly yet profoundly familiar. In addition to this, we have the seemingly innocent and angelic voice of Julee Cruise delivering the song in an almost emotionally neutral yet spellbindingly tender voice, which I believe propels the overall expression into the realm of the spiritual. By this I mean that the listener is ultimately left with an enduring empathy with the vital animating principle (or the "spirit") of the singer which, in this case and in the case of much of Lynch's work, is a tirelessly romantic and youthful idealism fighting for survival in the environs of a mad world, dreaming of a day when "the mysteries of love come clear / And dance in light / In me, in you / And show that we are love".
• In Dreams: David Lynch Revisited is at the Barbican, London EC1, on 20 June• In Dreams: David Lynch Revisited is at the Barbican, London EC1, on 20 June