JAWBONE: MUSIC FROM THE FILM AVAILABLE MARCH 10TH, 2017
“Jimmy / Blackout” The album’s sprawling 21-minute opener “Jimmy / Blackout” signals that JAWBONE: Music From the Film is a collection quite unlike anything else from Paul Weller’s extensive discography.An experimental sound collage that provides much of the film’s score and underlying mood, “Jimmy / Blackout” segues across a variety of different and often dissonant tones. Its eclectic tapestry of sounds flourishes and fractures with choral vocal harmonies, bursts of droning guitar, and the swirl of vintage synthesisers.Weller’s inimitable vocal takes on a more ethereal quality when it finally surfaces shortly after the 18-minute mark as the tracks head towards a dramatic crescendo.
“The Ballad of Jimmy McCabe” Second track “The Ballad of Jimmy McCabe” finds Weller in more familiar territory with an acoustic song written in the folk tradition. It’s a song that reflects the situation and emotional turmoil that troubles Johnny Harris’s lead character.As Weller sings: “I’ll beat my head ’til dawn / Figure out what I’m running from / Only then will I find peace in me.” A closing snippet of dialogue from the film offers a further insight into Jimmy’s desperate state of mind.
“Jawbone” Commencing with almost completely different sounds emanating from each speaker, the film’s title track is an aggressive, guitar-heavy psychedelic instrumental that feels like a hazy jam session straight out of the late ’60s. Again it features dialogue taken from the film, this time between Jimmy and his trainer Eddie (Michael Smiley).
“Bottle” Recalling “The Ballad of Jimmy McCabe,” “Bottle” is even more reflective in nature as Weller channels the spirit of a character who has descended to a new low and asks: “Where is the man I was?”
“Jawbone Training” While training scenes are often accompanied by inspirational chest-beating anthems, Weller takes an entirely different approach. This jazz-infused piece plays around a core percussive motif that builds with an intensity that echoes an escalating heartbeat. Dialogue comes from Ray Winstone as gym owner Bill, who offers Jimmy some ominous advice.
“Man on Fire” “Man on Fire” is the closest that the Jawbone soundtrack comes to a traditional score, with a minimalistic production that sets mournful strings to a plaintive piano.
“End Fight Sequence” Like “Jawbone Training” before it, “End Fight Sequence” also presents an antidote to the expected conventions of a boxing film. An almost hypnotic beat provides the basis for this foreboding album closer, as the track’s layers of sound become more cacophonous and unpredictable before drifting into silence.
Expect plenty of PAUL WELLER news to follow shortly including details on his forthcoming studio album.