I’ve often mused on the idea that some of the most interesting music, especially when delivered in album form, could easily be seen as soundtracks to a movie yet to be written. After all, what if filmmakers were brave enough to do things the other way around, what if music scores, rather than being written to fit the film, were in fact, the inspiration and launch pad for what we see on the screen?
Pshycotic Beats, the creative vehicle for Andrés Costureras (and, I might add, the perfect play on words for the conflicted and dual nature of the artistic mind) precisely embodies those thoughts, even going so far as to signal as much in the album title – Soundtrack Without A Movie.
Having tagged himself as an “electro-crooner,” this is an album that very much lives up to such a description – his rich voice reminiscent of an earlier, golden age of vocals and the music a heady blend of electronic washes and orchestral sweeps, chamber pop and baroque ‘n’ roll, melancholy understatement and anthemic heights.
The lead single, “Silence,” opens the album and helps set the tone, well, one of several complimentary tones, for the album. A gentle blend of sophistication and cinematics, compelling beats, and a Scott Walker-esque vibe, it both nods to what has gone before and strides into a promising digitally driven future.
And if “Loner” echoes a Bowie-infused upbeat groove, sounding almost as if it could have been part of Blackstar’s closing chapter, “Slow Curtain” is a piece of piano minimalism that would cause the likes of Nick Cave to be envious. (And the brilliantly named final song, “God Wouldn’t Allow You to Believe in Him,” would have had the unholy pantheon – Cave, Cohen and Waits armwrestling for the title alone.)
With a title that feels like a challenge to filmmakers everywhere, I eagerly await seeing how they might interpret these songs and turn them into scenes and scenarios based on feeling, mood and other less tangible qualities. The more I think about this idea of sound-led filmmaking, the more I am sure it could be the breakthrough the media world needs.
