Artist : Bruce Langhorne
Title : The Hired Hand OST
Genre : Soundtrack
Year : 2007
Date : 01/2008
Bitrate : VBR kbps
Tracks : 11
Label : Blast First Petite
Source : CDDA
Encoder : Lame 3.97
Length : 24:05 min
Size : 16,8 MB
Tracklist:
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01.opening 03:40
02.dead girl 00:37
03.leaving del norte 01:58
04.riding thru the rain 02:36
05.three teeth 01:26
06.spring 00:49
07.windmill 01:46
08.no further need 01:20
09.arch leaves 02:24
10.harry & hannah 02:53
11.ending 04:36
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24:05 min
It's always gratifying when something you've been after for
a very long time makes an appearance - and this amazing
soundtrack from Bruce Langhorn has been at the top of my
wants list for a good few years now.
"The Hired Hand" was the film that marked Peter Fonda's
directorial debut, and it also gave birth to one of the most
sought-after and accomplished soundtracks of the 1970's.
It was a picture that had been given the green light after the
breakaway success of Easy Rider and was one of a number
of semi-independent movies that were made in the early '70s
based on that movie's bankability.
Bruce Langhorne's haunting soundtrack plays off the fact that
the movie touches on the Western genre without actually
committing to it.
Consequently, Langhorne's music dips into the idiom at whim
but never descends into the realm of clichΘ. The atmospheric,
disembodied blues of 'Dead Girl' and 'Leaving Del Norte' have
an undeniable poetry to them, distilling cinematic atmospherics
into just a few brief moments of impeccably judged guitar work.
More substantially, the remarkable 'Riding Thru The Rain' is
comprised of ghostly banjo arpeggios, liquid lapsteel playing and
ringing piano chords heard quietly in the distance.
The production of these recordings is incredibly effective, something
made all the more remarkable by the fact that Langhorne assembled
each piece alongside his girlfriend Natalie Mucyn, who with no prior
mixing or editing experience multitracked the recording via some
distinctly lo-fi tape dubbing.
The fact that the recordings are so well balanced is barely short of
a miracle, and perhaps it was this technique that makes certain
elements of the soundtrack sound so bizarre and at times, mystical
even. The harmonised flutes of 'Windmill' sound uncannily like
something from Black Dice's first album, resembling some sort of
otherworldly birdsong.
There are moments of sheer lyrical brilliance here too: 'Spring' is but
a brief miniature for violin and acoustic guitar yet it provides a resolute,
very tangible intimacy and the closing "Ending" is the longest, most
complete track here, bringing many of the soundtrack's elements
together for a final, harmonious flourish that was so ahead of its time
it sounds almost uncannily like vintage Boards of Canada in interlude
mode - in fact I'd be very surprised if this soundtrack didnt influence
them in some way.
Nothing short of a lost classic - we implore you to check this out immediately.
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