LAUREN HOBAR
Staff Writer
“The Squid and the Whale” soundtrack is a full glass and should receive a lot of immediate attention for what comes spilling out of it. There is little chance it will do as well as the soundtracks for “Garden State” or “Elizabethtown,” though these soundtracks seems to be constructed with a similar philosophy. While each utilizes music from mostly lesser-known artists and is thoroughly thought out, only this soundtrack exalts artists that will likely always be lesser known. The soundtrack is packed with weird and sometimes downtrodden songs, but listening feels pretty perfect.
Writer and director Noah Baumbach and musical supervisor Randall Poster choose some of the most oddly articulate music to grace a recent soundtrack. Songs from John Phillips of the Mamas and Papas and The Feelies carry an aura of David Bowie and Paul Simon. Bert Jansch evokes the sounds of new songster Mason Jennings.
Despite its notable associations, the music is all its own. Jansch, along with Loudon Wainwright III and Britta Phillips & Dean Wareham, are a repeated and interwoven presence throughout the soundtrack. There is a real sense that these are related songs in a collection rather than a grouping of random works.
The soundtrack evokes a story that without seeing the movie easily makes sense. This is a collection of universally relevant music, though primarily mellow and mostly folk, it spans many emotions and is an engaging listen.
It mirrors a lot of what the soundtrack is about. It’s rich, lasting nearly 11 minutes. It’s twisted as at about 3 minutes in the music fades completely and then an angelic yawlp brims forth. Thankfully, the rest of the song follows, and it’s open and conversational about hush-hush subjects.
The soundtrack has a natural progression of lows to highs, and it makes sense to listen to in order, as the songs compliment their neighbors. Lou Reed is more effective being wedged between an instrumental song called “Family Conference” and a Wainwright tune called “The Swimming Song.”
“The Swimming Song” is Loudon Wainwright III channeling a boy singing of his experiences swimming in a summer past. It mocks the highbrow and wittingly sets out to overturn the concept of sophisticated poetry. The subject is juvenile, and it is incredibly poignant.
“The Squid and the Whale” is also much riskier than most soundtracks. I probably wouldn’t like some of these songs on their own, but in the context of this soundtrack, what would be cheesy, boring or just over my head, became charming and new favorites.
It takes a few listens for this notion to actually take effect (the first time through, I hit the skip halfway through a few songs) namely “Figure Eight” after the voice of Blossom Dearie had sung “six times eight is 48” and didn’t appear to be stopping anytime soon. So the soundtrack does take some patience and endurance.
02-16-2006