LAST YEAR will be remembered for some terrible tragedies altogether: the rebirth of the England football team, the visit of a foreign warship to our shores, the release of an Oasis box-set . . . the list is endless. The most distressing thing of all, though, as far as I was concerned, was Tindersticks protracted absence from the airwaves.
In the wake of their brilliant limited-edition CD Live At The Bloomsbury, it seemed as if the only Britpop band that matters had taken a break from the whole rigmarole, and returned to hibernate for a while in the all-night cafi of their choice, whiskies in hand, staring out the window through clouds of cigarette smoke at the merciless, rain-drenched London night (okay, I ll stop).
As it turns out, though, Nottingham s finest have been as busy as ever. They ve spent much of the last year working copiously on their upcoming new album which will be discussed at greater length in these pages upon its release but the Tinders also found time to contribute a stunning score to the soundtrack of a new French feature film, entitled Nenette Et Boni. The brainchild of Claire Denis, a Parisian director of African origin, Nenette has been warmly received at film festivals all over the world: it has yet to reach Ireland, but should be one of the highlights of this autumn s French Film Festival.
Tinders keyboard wizard Dave Boulter explains: It s basically about the relationship between a brother and a sister who haven t seen each other for years, and then they meet up after her father dies and her uncle . . . I m sorry, I don t really want to tell you too much about it cause it s a really great film, you know? The thing is that we indirectly inspired the whole project, if you like, cause Claire came to see us play in Paris on the advice of a friend, and she says she was so blown away by My Sister that it gave her the idea for the film. So she came to see us again in 95 when we were touring Europe with the orchestra, and she came into the dressing room and asked us if we wanted to be involved . . .
Although little is known of her work outside French-speaking countries her best-known credit remains her 1988 directorial debut Chocolat Denis obviously has excellent taste in the people she decides to collaborate with. Throughout almost two decades of involvement in cinema, she has worked with and befriended such visionaries as Wim Wenders, Jim Jarmusch and Tom Waits. Tindersticks, as a listen to Drunk Tank will confirm, are all certified Waits fans, and they recently contributed a gorgeous version of Mockin Bird to an indispensable album of Waits covers entitled Step Right Up, which also features such kindred souls as Dave Alvin, Tim Buckley, Rowland S. Howard, Alex Chilton, Jeffrey Lee Pierce and The Violent Femmes.
Above that, there s a discernible similarity in style between the films of Wim and Jim (that s Wenders and Jarmusch) and the music of Tindersticks, in which everything is suggested, but little is ever spelt out. It s a sensibility which mirrors much of what is best about French cinema: indeed, right from the moment they began to gather a lot of attention, the band s music has often been talked about as being very cinematic, in a decidedly European sense. Vocalist/lyricist Stuart Staples has described his songs as soundtracks to short films , and Dave has for many years been a huge fan of Ennio Morricone and John Barry. Would the band subscribe to Dylan s idea that each song is a sound-painting ?
To an extent, says Dave, but it s not something we ve ever really worried about, or consciously tried to engender. The songs just tend to tumble out, they sort of take their own shape. When they re finished, they might paint a certain picture really effectively, but it s not as if we sit down and say right, let s make the musical version of Lautrec s Moulin Rouge . I mean, we don t think in conventional rock n roll terms, but we don t think in terms of high art either. We just do it, you know? n
Nenette Et Boni original soundtrack is out now on This Way Up.