British Sea Power- Man of Aran
7/10

Written and composed as a score for the 1934 cinematic master-piece Man of Aran, British Sea Power has taken their career to a whole new level. Out go the indie pop tunes and in comes an almost entirely instrumental album of epic post-rock and charred orchestral arrangements. The new album comes as a package, containing the the band’s new album and a DVD of the original film, backed by British Sea Power’s new score. The film is a documentary style depiction of life on the island of Aran, which lies in the treacherous waters of the west-coast of Ireland. It is beautifully shot, capturing the barren landscape that is predominantly made up of jagged coastal cliffs and a sharp marine shelf. The inhabitants of the island constantly battle the elements, relying on the ocean for food and many of their everyday necessities. In one of the harshest oceanic climates in the world, they risk their own lives everyday to survive; their battle with the ocean is captured wonderfully and British Sea Power’s score brings tension and drama to the silent film. Opening with an image of the wild Aranian coast line, the music comes in slowly with a whisper of piano and cello. It builds in both sound and density as the images become more violent, displaying images of the islanders struggling with the strong ocean currents and being thrown against the rocks. For the first forty minutes of the film the score is faultless, lining up with the images and capturing the drama in a way that brings on strong emotions. The climax of the film, a two day struggle with a basking shark which is hunted for it’s rich liver oil used by the local people to power their lamps, brings about a change in the bands ethos. Suddenly the film erupts into a rising tide of post-rock style noise coinciding with the struggle between man and fish. Unfortunately it’s where the music starts to become over zealous, the piercing guitar sounds don’t quite fit with the back and forward tug-of-war that’s taking place on screen and the frustrated tone of the music lasts a little beyond the tolerable time limit. It does smooth itself out as the film drifts back on to land, but it still has a suppressed energy that it can’t quite contain. As a result the score takes on a sort of Hollywood joyride; towards the end becoming more appropriate for Titanic than Man of Aran. Listening to it purely on record, without the images, has a very late night quality. The sort of music that would slowly put you to sleep at 3am. Brilliantly cold, but slightly over done towards the end, Man of Aran is a must own for any fan of black and white cinematography who can appreciate the difficulty in capturing such a violent landscape.
Nick

Posted by Nick Fulton under Album, Reviews
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