NICK CAVE AND WARREN ELLIS – WHITE LUNAR

Nick Cave and Warren Ellis have always played the dark horse, and here in this collection of their commissioned film work over the years, we get to revel in their peculiar genius away from the cloaks of The Bad Seeds and Dirty Three. The album has two discs, essentially sequenced like the waxing and waning of the moon. Disc one contains music from their more well-known work, such as the scratchy, fly-struck soundscapes from John Hillcoat’s The Proposition, The Assassination of Jesse James and some tracks from their hypnotic, saturating score for new film The Road. Disc Two, as the liner notes state, is more obtuse, haunting and “sometimes badly behaved”. It’s here that some of the best music in the collection can be found, exploring all sorts of windy, eclectic soundscapes, from the sad to the terrifying and downright weird.  It seems that anything either of these two men touches turns to gold; here is another notch in their career belts, a real showcase of talent and a beautiful listen from start to finish.

****1/2