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Tindersticks, "Claire Denis Soundtracks 1996-2009"
This five disc box set collects all of Tindersticks' soundtracks for the French director Claire Denis. Dating back to their classic second album and continuing right up until their current incarnation, their relationship with Denis has borne exquisite musical fruit that covers a surprising spectrum of styles. This collection is an absolute treasure, covering the two previously released soundtracks with four unreleased works and each one is a masterpiece.
 
Approaching the Nottingham group after a concert promoting their second eponymous album, Denis set the ball rolling on a long-lasting and powerful collaboration. Using the moods and motifs from their 1995 album, they scored her film Nenette et Boni. Beginning with an instrumental version of "My Sister," they set Denis’ work to strings, vibraphone and guitar. The cinematic quality of their music was always evident but here was the proof that Tindersticks were more than capable of adding their voice to another’s vision.
Five years later, the band produced the soundtrack for Denis’ Trouble Every Day (the only one of these movies I have actually seen I must note) where their melancholic but tender music accompanied some very dark subject matter indeed. Blood-drenched, sex-fueled cannibalism is not the first topic that comes to mind when I think of Tindersticks but this is part of the strength of Denis’ film and of their soundtrack. Originating from an unfinished sketch from the Curtains sessions, the score is built around the song "Trouble Every Day" which is perhaps the band’s greatest composition. At live performances around this time (including a concert where they were backed by a 17-piece string ensemble), this song stuck out as being extraordinary even amongst their strong back catalog. Stuart Staples and Dickon Hinchliffe trade vocals across verses as Hinchliffe’s violin and string arrangements create a haunting and desolate drapery for the images on screen. The rest of the band builds a brooding mood throughout; sparse instrumentation punctuated by brass and bass match the threatening eroticism of the movie.
While both these soundtracks have been previously released, the remainder of the box set is dedicated to unreleased works. After Trouble Every Day, Staples and Hinchliffe both scored a film each, L’Intrus and Vendredi Soir respectively. Staples’ "anti-music" for L’Intrus comes as a serious shock to me as he deliberately moves away from everything I would expect from him. Using arrhythmic drum intervals and claustrophobic, gritty guitar, he creates a sound world completely apart from Tindersticks and his own solo recordings.
On the other side of things, Hinchliffe embraces the idea of a traditional soundtrack with both arms. His strings and piano score for Vendredi Soir is a conservative but beautiful work which is in stark contrast to Staples’ racket which precedes it. The final piece, "Sunrise," is particularly gorgeous and it bears more than a passing resemblance to the song "Until the Morning Comes" that Hinchliffe penned for the Tindersticks album Waiting for the Moon. This continuous back and forward between Tindersticks’ main canon and their soundtracks shows just how much of themselves goes into the Denis films; it goes far beyond a traditional composer/director relationship.
Not long after these soundtracks, the group went on hiatus before disintegrating as half of the original members left. Hinchliffe unsurprisingly has moved into composing for film and television full-time and Staples is now leading the second incarnation of Tindersticks. Their studio albums since coming back from the cold have had a different tone compared to the earlier albums and the soundtracks recorded by this new line up are no different. The working relationship between Denis and Tindersticks resumed in 2008 with 35 Rhums. Flute and accordion play prominent roles here, certainly at odds with what I was expecting (a common and happy theme throughout this box). Unfortunately, this disc is rather short but it is absolutely brilliant for its entire length.
The final and most recent soundtrack is 2009’s White Material which throws yet another curve ball; it harks back to the spare arrangements of the earlier soundtracks but explores a completely different atmosphere. If I had been listening to this blind, I would have said it was some other Constellation Records group like Silver Mt. Zion or some of Do Make Say Think’s darker moments. There are times, like on "Andre’s Death," where the group build the tension with scorching guitars and an inescapable rhythm; not descriptions normally associated with Tindersticks but they fit the bill throughout White Material. Even though their main releases have not been too stuck in any particular formula, it is through these soundtracks that Tindersticks have truly experimented with their music.
The five discs are housed in a decadent card box along with a book where Michael Hill writes about Claire Denis and her work with Tindersticks. The essay is published in English and in a French translation and features extensive quotations from most of the artists concerned (though Hinchliffe is notable by his absence). Also included in the book are stunning stills from the various films covered by the box set. While I am never anything less than impressed with Constellation's sleeves and packaging, they have definitely pushed the boat out here.
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