You can pretty much gage from the fact that about 9 out of 10 Radiohead fans* don’t even know that the modern virtuoso guitar-hero with the awkward fringe, Jonny Greenwood, has a life outside the band, that what he does do must surely be credible to his own indulgences and counter to mainstream logic (even the mainstream that his own band belongs to), if nothing else. And you’d of course be right. His first solo release was the soundtrack to 2003 abstract visual documentary ‘Bodysong’ in which avant-garde textures and rhythms that made ‘Kid A’ sound like a soft drinks commercial accompanied intravenous footage of conception and the like – it was dense and challenging, but almost uniformly absorbing and hypnotic. He then became, to make another quantum leap, BBC composer in residence.
And now with another soundtrack record, this time to dark period drama ‘There Will be Blood’ set in the early 20th century US oil trade, abstract remains a foreground interest and his sonic ambition is anything but quashed, but technology is entirely absent. That may seem initially surprising considering his curriculum vitae but it only goes to highlight the breadth of his ability as a musician.
Here are 11 orchestral compositions, primarily from the pen of the man himself, and each one creates the impression of a space where the air hangs heavy and paranoia and suspicion and probably misery stalk, protected by shadows and dark cinematography. There is sweeping atmospheric subtly (the hanging dark and shade of ‘Open Spaces’) and there are spirally, piercing impressions (the darting, pulse-troubling ‘Future Markets’). Unlike, say, the recent soundtrack work of Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, these are not so much pieces of music that have equal status as stand-alone pieces, you do feel they are intrinsically linked to the moving pictures they partner, but that’s not to say the haunting weight of ‘Prospectors Arrive’ isn’t a deeply affecting piece of suggestion as it stands. Those 1 out of 10 Radiohead fans should feel rewarded.
* to be clear, we have not conducted a survey, we are just guessing…