Nick Cave and Warren Ellis

The Proposition - Original Soundtrack

(Mute)

Record Review by Adam McKibbin

Nick Cave is a master of the foreboding and the forbidding—and his Bad Seeds counterpart Warren Ellis is no slouch in that department, either—so it’s little surprise that their soundtrack for The Proposition lays on a thick cinematic mood. It’s the sort of soundtrack that almost functions as a mini-movie in and of itself. As a stand-alone album, of course, it doesn’t come close to rivaling the creative peaks of the Cave/Bad Seeds back catalog, but that’s not the function of a soundtrack—a point that is sometimes confused when the soundtrack is released individually (the film is newly available on DVD).

The cover photograph sets the tone for the work, as Cave and Ellis convey an outback-focused sense of stillness and isolation that is combined with the looming sense that something is lurking just off the horizon . The songs are often mere fragments, created to advance or enhance the narrative, and even sometimes wink at their own transparency (for instance, calling the 48-second sad violin thing “Sad Violin Thing”). Vocally, with a few exceptions, Cave contributes quiet abstractions—absolutely no fire and brimstone, and often no words at all. The more “traditional” songs with full vocals result in a mixed bag; “Down to the Valley” is an effectively droning meditation on death, “Gun Thing” is exquisitely evocative, but “The Rider Song” comes off a bit clumsily.

Ellis is a virtuoso on violin, and while he’s obviously freer and better showcased in his work with Dirty Three, his gifts are clearly evidenced on The Proposition, as he subtly ratchets up the tension while returning to the soundtrack’s stark recurring motifs. In a time when most film scores are as histrionic as ever, Cave and Ellis provide a refreshing counterpoint.