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Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesTake Two: “Orinoco Flow (Sail Away)” (Enya Vs. Olivia Jean)
The Original (from the 1988 album Watermark)
This song is a centerpiece of arguably the most successful album from the 1980s-90s “New Age” marketing category. Enya started out creating mood music for BBC documentaries, and the cinematic quality of her work is on full display here.
The core of the song features pizzicato violins and synth washes and arpeggiated runs. Percussion is provided by a spare bassline and strategically placed timpani dramatically leaning on the one of the measure, a pattern well known in Funk music, BTW.
Lopping two chord patterns and impressionistic nautical lyrics make the music hypnotic in its way. You don’t need to be anywhere near water to get to dreaming of adventures on the high seas.
Kevin Fullam writesThe Fourth Wall: Blue Valentine
Welcome to The Fourth Wall, CHIRP's e-conversation on cinema. This week's subject is the 2010 film Blue Valentine.
This edition is written by CHIRP Radio volunteers Kevin Fullam and Cassondra Branderhorst.
Kevin:
Early on in Blue Valentine, the image that came to mind was that of an oscilloscope. What happens when you have a pair of harmonic waves that are just slightly misaligned? Over time, small differences can magnify into huge disconnects, where the two may find themselves moving in opposite directions.
In the Hollywood of yesteryear, the story of Cindy (Michelle Williams in an Oscar-nominated performance) and Dean (Ryan Gosling) would have all the trappings of a romantic comedy. There's the meet-cute (while visiting residents of a senior home), the disparate backgrounds (she's a college student, he's a high-school dropout who works for a moving company), the winsome impromptu first date (where his ukulele serenade wins her over), and even a jealous ex (played in rather creepy fashion by Mike Vogel) to boot.
In Blue Valentine, however, these elements are relayed via a series of flashbacks and comprise only half of the tale. The present day has us checking up on their marriage, five years in... and clearly, the honeymoon has long worn off. Cindy can't fathom why Dean seems content with menial work; he can't understand why the charming disposition she fell in love with no longer seems good enough for her today.
Matters reach a breaking point when Dean -- over Cindy's objections -- plans an evening for the two of them at a hotel with "theme" suites, which in their case is ominously titled "The Future." (Picture the bridge of the Starship Enterprise.) Relations are frosty before they've even arrived. Cindy is exhausted and also on call for her job as a nurse, and there's additional tension in the air after she mentions that she bumped into the aforementioned ex at a liquor store on the way there. The ex's opening salvo: Have you been faithful to your husband? Ouch.
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesCHIRP Radio Weekly Voyages (Aug 14 - Aug 20)
Upcoming Events:
- Tuesday Aug 15: CHIRP Radio welcomes The Clientele to Lincoln Hall
- Tuesday Aug 15: CHIRP Music Trivia Night at Beermiscuous
- Saturday Aug 19 - Sunday Aug 20: CHIRP at the Glenwood Avenue Arts Fest
- Wednesday Aug 23: First Time: First Pass at Martyrs'
- Friday Aug 25: CIHRP Radio welcomes Ratboys to Schubas
- Tuesday Sep 12: CIHRP DJ Night at The Native
- Thursday Sep 14: CIHRP Radio welcomes Pile to Sleeping Village
CHIRP Radio writesCHIRP Radio Weekly Voyages (July 31 - Aug 6)
Upcoming Events:
- Tuesday Aug 1: CHIRP Night at the Whistler Cordoba and Sopphire
- Saturday Aug 5 - Sunday Aug 6: CHIRP is a media sponsor for Thirsty Ears 2023
- Tuesday Aug 8: CHIRP DJ Night at The Native
- Thursday Aug 10: CIHRP Radio welcomes Bully to Thalia Hall
- Tuesday Aug 15: CHIRP Radio welcomes The Clientele to Lincoln Hall
- Tuesday Aug 15: CHIRP Trivia Night at Beermiscuous
- Wednesday Aug 23: First Time: First Pass at Martyrs'
- Friday Aug 25: CIHRP Radio welcomes Ratboys to Schubas
Kevin Fullam writesThe Fourth Wall: Music In Movies
Welcome to The Fourth Wall, CHIRP's e-conversation on cinema. This week's subject is the use of music in movies.
This edition is written by CHIRP Radio volunteers Kevin Fullam and Clarence Ewing.
Kevin:
The one-two trumpet punches of Rocky. The orchestral explosion when the Star Wars logo hits the screen. The menacing, oh-so-cool guitar riff hallmarking the entrance of 007.
Can't imagine these films or characters without their tagline anthems, can you? Strip away the Indiana Jones theme from the titular character? Might as well take the poor guy's fedora and bullwhip as well.
Of course, the power of music in film goes well beyond rousing heroic scores. There are the sweeping strings that seemed to punctuate many Hollywood romances of yesteryear, and more recently, much ink has been spilled over the role of music in horror tales, as discordance can ramp up tension even more than the sight of a rusty machete.
To say nothing of diegetic sound* -- maybe it's not such a great idea to play a crackly Joanna Newsom record ("Sprout and the Bean" in The Strangers) when you're alone and worried about a home invasion?
[* This refers to music that's audible to the characters in the film, like when someone flips on a car radio while cruising around, or, in the case of Rachel Getting Married, when TV On The Radio's Tunde Adebimpe sings at his own wedding on screen.]
The 2016 documentary SCORE! is a great primer on the subject, but as this is a CHIRP production, perhaps we should also explore a tangential avenue and talk about the intersection of cinema and independent music?