Now it’s dark.
So, this is the velvet moment, finally. Perfect match: the time, the movie, the music and the album. It is perfect like David Lynch’s vision of ordinary things hidden behind the irrational. It’s like deep, unusual, sacred moments found in the trivial and customary. A woman’s hand in a black glove will show you the way to an empty noir cinema hall, so you could refresh your feelings while watching classics on your own. You are a lucky one to catch this deep blue moment of art orgasm: a classical movie with shivering anxious sounds rearranged and played the other way. It’s like that black glove turned blue and there is no door in this cinema hall anymore. Sudden changes like that give you anxiety and masochistic joy. Lynch gives you shivers, a silent, numb fear and hope. Tuxedomoon strokes your guts with sounds taken from the dreams of the dead noir-stars. Yes, Tuxedomoon and Cult with No Name released a soundtrack for Peter Braatz’s documentary about Blue Velvet by David Lynch. All this looks and sounds like a precious present in the tender hands of Isabella Rossellini. She smiles, breathes and speaks velvet and every single thing in this world feels warmth and kindness of a Woman’s big and wise heart.
Blue Velvet is adorable like Isabella Rossellini’s sight and dreamy like her voice. All the things bad being done at night are to be seen and cleaned up one sunny day. Blue Velvet music is a gift shining through times with its mystery and belief in all things good arranged into a swamp-like sound. It was the first collaboration of David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti. Lynch was inspired by Shostakovich at that time, so he wanted something like that. And Badalamenti managed to create this work of art mixing passion of Shostakovich with blue sounds of noir-movies and haunted versions of classical pop songs by Roy Orbison and Bobby Vinton. As a result, we have one of the best and most notable neo-noir movies ever with a soundtrack being a spooky and touching creature. It caresses its listener with red nails and shrouds him into a cozy inconvenience. It is truly one of the best soundtracks ever.
Blue Velvet is a special atmosphere and a movie I’m constantly returning to. This time it is a double pleasure – quiet and fragile. Tuxedomoon is a band with anxious, disturbing music made of tender fabric. Cult with No Name is a band inspired by modern classical music and a cold new-wave. And they created together a soundtrack for this documentary by Braatz called “Blue Velvet Revisited”. Album contains 13 tracks and a bonus called “Sandy”. All the tracks sound like a detailed description of scenes from Blue Velvet created with love and fantastic exactness. No vocals, no extra-experiments, only pure airy sounds of noir, detachment, fear, faith and beauty found in this record. Experimental slow movie on LP.
Velvet strings tickle your head in “The Slow Club”. Time slows down and women in pink dresses start dancing. They laugh and drink whiskey. They look through you; these women stare at something beautiful behind: behind you, behind years, laughter, drugs and tears. Their memories take form of a liquid substance flowing into a violin’s sound in “Lumberton”. And you feel sad for all of them lost their smiles and lives in that small town. “Do It for Van Gogh” seems to be extremely peaceful and crystal clear. Too pure to be true. And “So fucking Suave” is so suave that it seems to be a gentle, though, phantasmagoric joke. “Now It’s Dark” is a darken awesomeness. A story within a story. It’s like some constantly changing piece from a scary story we all know. A phrase worth writing for. “Dorothy” is whispering her blue and mystical words, again, through you. You hear it and feel all this, but it’s not about you as a listener. It’s all about them as Velvet City dwellers. “A Candy Colored Clown” is not to be described as a track. It’s more like a condition – unstable and melting. “Frank” is a skillfully drawn picture of a bad man with no excuses. And “Alligator Briefcase” is a classic noir shivers on your back and arms. It is dreams of mysteries and dirty things we all see sometimes. “Jeffrey Nothing” is a sudden snow in a middle of dark nowhere making things look better and even pure. And all the good things show their faces in “Until the Robins Come”. “Don” is a picture of toys on a dirty floor and a child’s voice on a phone you cannot hear. A perfectly described moment. And “Sandy” is a great bonus to finish this interpretation of a gorgeous noir-story to be told on a screen on and on.
This soundtrack differs but fits. This story is solid and stable, but it can be told the other way. This is a weird moment when the glove turns blue. You know it’s got to be black, but… it is right that the glove is blue and there is no exit from your special cinema hall. You’ve got to get deep into the story once again. And when the end-titles smile at you and a silence appears, you will see your exit and a woman with no glove. She will take you somewhere you’ve got to be. She will show you everything. And she will sing you a song.
She wore blue velvet Bluer than velvet was the night Softer than satin was the light From the stars
(And dark no more)
