Various Artists – Broken Flowers Soundtrack
(Decca)

The best movie soundtracks are not necessarily the ones that compile new tracks from all your favourite bands in one place. While that can be effective as a cool marketing gimmick, a soundtrack is only listenable and ultimately memorable if the songs work together to evoke the mood and the atmosphere of the movie.

Bill Murray has been fortunate to be involved in a number of independent films that have revitalized his career as of late, and strangely, one of the common threads among great films like Rushmore, Lost In Translation, and The Life Aquatic has been the music. Wes Anderson’s gift for assembling great soundtracks is fairly well documented (he gets more than a little help from composer Mark Mothersbaugh), while Sofia Coppola has been praised slightly less for her own taste in music. But now what of New York filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, director of Bill Murray’s latest critical favourite, Broken Flowers? Surely the hipster behind a movie like Coffee & Cigarettes (which included short films starring Iggy Pop, Tom Waits, and the RZA and GZA) should have a good ear for soundtracks as well.

It turns out the Broken Flowers soundtrack is another great collection of songs, perhaps more refined and obscure than Wes Anderson’s, but certainly no less fitting. In the movie, Bill Murray’s character Don Johnston sets out on a road trip to look for a long lost son he has never met who may or may not actually exist. There are 3 main recurring songs, heard numerous times throughout his travels, that serve as central themes for the film. Performed by Ethiopian musician Mulatu Astatke, the songs are supposed to be part of a mixed CD compiled by Don’s best friend and neighbour Winston. Winston is Ethiopian himself and seems to wish he was a private eye; Mulatu’s instrumental mix of latin, jazz and lounge creates the perfect backdrop for mystery and intrigue.

In addition to these tunes, there are a number of songs about lost love that evoke Don’s feelings of regret, loneliness and reflection. 60’s psychadelic band The Greenhornes (seen recently on tour with The White Stripes) contribute two songs, including “There Is An End” with Holly Golightly, a Nancy Sinatra-style duet. The 60’s throwbacks continue with “Not If You Were The Last Dandy On Earth” by the Brian Jonestown Massacre, a song made famous recently in the documentary Dig!. The soundtrack diverges at certain points with some smooth R&B courtesy of Marvin Gaye, some old school rocksteady from The Tennors, and a sinister dirge called “Dopesmoker” from the band Sleep.

Again, the best soundtracks are not usually the ones composed of bands you would listen to on any given day. The Broken Flowers soundtrack combines a variety of bands from different eras and plenty of music that I wouldn’t normally be interested in. But when held together by the themes from a brilliant film, this collection of songs stands on its own and makes for a great album. If you enjoyed the movie, this CD is the perfect companion to it. — Sean

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Recommended If You Like: The Royal Tenenbaums Soundtrack, Jackie Brown Soundtrack