The Orielles Pick Their Favourite Film Soundtracks
From haunting prog through to 60s freakbeat...
There's always been a huge visual dynamic to *The Orielles*.
The band's exuberant live shows are paired to some outstanding videos, allowing the group to bring their creative vision to different spheres.
Second album 'Disco Volodar' was an absolute delight, infusing their indie pop template with some storming electronics, a kind of skewed club sound that felt absolutely right.
Aiming to produce some form of live stream in lieu of live shows, The Orielles decided instead to expand on this, producing a feature length film in the process.
A desire to do something different, La Vita Olistica features a plethora of unheard treats, a full creative statement from the group.
Here, The Orielles name their favourite soundtracks, and explore the influences of those scores on their work...
- - -
*Goblin - 'Suspiria'* (Directed by Dario Argentio)
One of the soundtracks I’ve heard recently that stood out for me was Goblin’s 'Suspiria'.
The major reason why I love the soundtrack is because it’s so primal, the composition, based on layers of percussion, a lot of it sent through tape delays, creates a cacophony of rhythms and textures that quickly become very disorientating. Paired with the use of the demonic sounding human voice as a texture in tracks like 'Sighs' and 'Witches'; it creates something incredibly tribal that affects the very core fight or flight responses.
In a lot of moments, the heaviest walls of sound Goblin created were in places of cinematic stillness, this made it stand out so much more for me.
Another reason I rate this horror soundtrack so highly is that Goblin managed to create something so iconic and emotive using a bunch of acoustic instruments, some tape delays and a couple of Moog Synthesizers.
- - -
*Miles Davis - 'Elevator To The Gallows'* (Directed by Louis Malle)
If anyone was ever able to capture the energy of Jeanne Moreau looking cool as fuck walking through a nocturnal 1950’s Paris in search of her partner in crime, of course it’d be Miles Davis.
The soundtrack to Louis Malle’s incredible debut, ‘Ascenseur pour L’échafaud’, is the stuff of legend and is so important to me because of its interdisciplinary creation. Miles Davis and his ensemble improvised the soundtrack whilst performing to a projection of the film, creating the aptly woozy score using a sensory and immediate approach that can often be lost in a film’s post-production.
In Miles Davis’ case the end result is sparse, tense and noir-ish, peppered with tracks like ‘Visite Du Vigile’ that rotates around a double bass motif progressing in tempo until it feels as though it is about to hit you in the face. Composing music to visual art and projections seems like the way to go and is something we ourselves intend to do more of in the future!
- - -
*Carlos D'Alessio - 'India Song' *(Directed by Marguerite Duras)
The soundtrack for India Song, composed by longtime Duras collaborator Carlos D’Alessio, is one that stands at the forefront of important film soundtracks for me as it is a perfect example of how a musical motif can become one of the main characters of a film. Much like the characters, most of the music that appears throughout the film has a flat affect, making it almost unreadable due to its falsely serene pretence.
As it echoes around the decadent interiors of the mansion in which the film claustrophobically takes place, it soon begins to feel like an attempt to conceal something sinister that lies beneath the surface, perhaps a result of it’s, at times, uncomfortable ‘traditionality’.
The eponymously titled track ‘India Song’, which is played so delicately on the piano, is beautiful but haunting, performing in (im)perfect harmony with the ghostly figures of the film, who are traversing the guilt caused by their colonial and marital crimes. Its sound design in general is incredible as all dialogue is dislocated from the image itself, creating a collage of whispers, gossip, relayed memories and even an ethnographic Laotian chant, over the top of this deeply mysterious soundtrack.
- - -
*Joe Hisaishi - 'Kid's Return' *(Directed by Takeshi Kitano)
Dang. First time I saw this film I had Hisaishi’s motifs running through my head for days after! His ability to create cinematic scores that evoke feelings of empathy with the characters, whilst also being amazing stand-alone pieces of music is incredible.
We have been working on some remixes lately, and were heavily inspired by Hisaishi’s electronic piano sound and riffs. His score is equally wandering and cinematic as it is something that can be danced to, something we’re also heavily inspired by.
Long time Studio Ghibli composer Hisaishi continues to employ cinematic themes that are perfect anchors to lush anime cinematography, but his compositions also go hand-in-hand with Kitano’s Yakuza crime auteurship and in this film especially, Hisaishi really goes hard on the wandering motif, bringing it back time and time again to create an earworm you never knew you needed in your life.
- - -
*Various - 'Death Proof' *(Directed by Quentin Tarantino)
We felt that the perfect soundtrack to end on would be the one that brought us together as a band and means a lot to us as a collective.
We used to play along to this film, specifically the final scene in which the cool as fuck gurrl gang are finally getting their comeuppance on Stuntman Mike. Anyway, back to the soundtrack; a standout song is Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mich & Tich’s ‘Hold Tight!’ for its driving rhythm (perfectly paired with a very gnarly driving scene - if you know, you know) and classic Kinks/Stones vocal lines and harmonies. Also, what a crazy band name?!
The Coasters’ ‘Down in Mexico’ is so well selected too. That bongo breakdown and change to double time catches you off guard and rings of Fela Kuti even though it was recorded in the early 50s.
Finally, April March’s English version of Serge Gainsbourg’s ‘Laisse Tomber Les Filles’ became a firm favourite on the dancefloor and we’d always spin this at parties. Sexy, surfy and sooo 60s sounding, this is a record everyone needs to hear. Be sure to check out both the French and English versions.
- - -
‘La Vita Olistica’ soundtrack is out now.
Join us on the ad-free creative social network Vero, as we get under the skin of global cultural happenings. Follow Clash Magazine as we skip merrily between clubs, concerts, interviews and photo shoots. Get backstage sneak peeks, exclusive content and access to Clash Live events and a true view into our world as the fun and games unfold.
Buy Clash Magazine