Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 06/06/2006
Who would have guessed back in the early-'90s heyday of
Superchunk that 15 years later
Mac McCaughan (recording under his
Portastatic banner) would be making music as gentle and refined as this
soundtrack for the indie film
Who Loves the Sun? The
soundtrack reunites
McCaughan with director
Matthew Bissonnette (they worked together on 2002's
Looking for Leonard) and proves once again that
McCaughan has a knack for creating thoughtful and rather lovely
film music. Unlike that previous
soundtrack, there is no
bossa nova influence here; instead there is a pastoral
chamber pop feel at work as
McCaughan and a handful of others have crafted a truly beautiful album that is tender, sweet, and lush without being overbearing or treacly. Using only sporadic guitars and no vocals,
McCaughan relies on oboes, flutes, organ and tinkling pianos to carry the melodies, and does a stellar job at creating a wide variety of moods and tones throughout. The mix of shorter pieces and longer songs gives the record itself a nice flow and allows it to stand apart from the film as a satisfying separate work. You don't have to like, or even see,
Who Loves the Sun to be moved by
McCaughan's work here. It is another step in his growth as an artist and certainly should give anyone who ever dismissed him as a one trick pony some serious pause. The album should also give
McCaughan a shot at doing more
soundtrack work, both for indie films and otherwise.
~Tim Sendra, All Music Guide
;)
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