Sinister: storytelling review

[Robert Brennan]

I know it's been out for a while and we've all formed
our opinons but fans of the pop band Belle & Sebastian
might like to know that the Onion has a review of Tory
Shelling:

http://www.theonionavclub.com/avclub3829/music3829.html

The text is at the end of this post for those without
the old-fashioned interweb.

Ken inked: 
'I was outside, talking to a boy and a girl, the boy
was wearing a "Moog" synthesiser T-Shirt'

He sounds like a nice bloke - I think it was his first
picnic too.

Robster


                      [][][][][][]


Belle And Sebastian
Storytelling
(Jeepster/Matador)

 United by a shared understanding of suburban ennui,
the music of Belle And Sebastian and the films of Todd
Solondz make for a more natural match than the sum
total of Solondz's Storytelling would suggest. Maybe
that's why the film seems improved by its soundtrack
album, which finds a heart beneath the layers of
creeping misanthropy. According to Belle And Sebastian
trumpeter Mick Cooke, only about six minutes of music
composed for the film made it into the final cut. That
leaves the band with a grab bag of instrumental and
vocal tracks that are too specific in their intent for
a proper B&S album, but which (dialogue excerpts
aside) have only a passing connection to the film
itself. As an album, Storytelling is most easily
viewed as an assortnment of B&S songs that almost
accidentally make up a compelling album all their own,
though split almost evenly between instrumental and
vocal tracks. The former reveal that the group's idea
of a cinematic score has a lot in common with the work
of Ennio Morricone—although, typically enough for a
band that avoids directly canonical influences, tracks
like "Freak," "Fuck This Shit," and "Consuelo" owe a
greater debt to the work Morricone turned out for
indistinguishable romances and thrillers in the '60s
and '70s than to any of his more famous efforts. The
brief, dreary "I Don't Want To Play Football" aside,
the vocal tracks have the unforced charm of the
singles that Belle And Sebastian regularly turns out
between albums: sunny pop with rainy lyrics. There's
an unprecedented hint of funk on "Big John Shaft," a
song about the impossibility of balancing Hollywood
acting and self-respect, written for Storytelling
actor Robert Wisdom. And the title track sums up the
themes of Solondz's film in just over three minutes,
without any limp stabs at American Beauty or
uncomfortable gags about cerebral palsy. Not a bad
trick. —Keith Phipps



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