Sean Nicholas Savage has shared a new single, ‘Streets of Rage’, lifted from his forthcoming Mac DeMarco-produced album Shine. “Maybe this is saying, ‘Rapunzel, don’t throw your hair down here. it’s bad down here. i’ll love you from a distance,” Savage explained in a staetment. “I want you to be happy’.” Check out the song’s accompanying video below.
Shine is scheduled for release on July 22 via Arbutus Records. The LP was led by the single ‘Comet’.
Can you think of a more fitting title for the new Angel Olsen album than Big Time? You don’t even need to know what it sounds like – considering how long it’s been since her last proper LP, the lavishly arranged and tempestuous All Mirrors, should be enough to put things in perspective. (It’s been less than three years, but if it feels like forever, that only makes it more apt – few songwriters evoke the blurriness of time like Olsen.) Her subsequent releases may be seen as slightly counterintuitive, but far from a rejection of what she attempted with her most epic statement yet: 2020’s Whole New Mess, a companion to All Mirrors, presented its songs in their original form, calling back to her 2012 EP Strange Cacti almost as a reminder that, even when she favours a more spare presentation, unresolved feelings sound no less big; if anything, the stark intimacy unveils their devastating messiness. In Olsen’s music, intensity isn’t a matter of scale or production value – if she’s singing about how “all the weight of all the world came rushing through,” you’re going to feel exactly what that means.
After such an emotionally taxing project, though, you wouldn’t blame Olsen for trying something different, and last year’s Aisles EP was such a straightforward collection of ‘80s covers that it bordered on frivolous and deliberately inessential. There’s barely a trace of it on Big Time, which foregoes the dark synth-pop and orchestral elegance that made All Mirrors soar, hewing closer to alt-country with organic instrumentation that matches the tenderness and warmth of expression its songs zero in on. Longtime fans won’t find these qualities surprising, but the simplicity and directness that often marks Big Time make it feel like a new chapter. Far from a nod to Olsen’s growing influence, the title is taken from a track she co-wrote with her partner: “I’m loving you big time,” she sings with a breezy confidence that radiates throughout the album. Even as she reflects on the dissolution of a relationship on the bright opener ‘All the Good Times’, she seems to be opening up a well of possibility.
The soft glow that illuminates Big Time might seem strange for an album that chronicles such a tumultuous period in Olsen’s life, even after the relaxed vibe of Aisles. Though she came out publicly last April, Olsen hadn’t yet declared her queerness to her parents, and shortly after she did, lost both of them in quick succession. Three weeks after her mother’s funeral, she was in the studio with co-producer Jonathan Wilson recording her new LP. ‘This Is How It Works’ and ‘Chasing the Sun’ are the only two tracks written after her parents passed, and the former finds the singer at her most vulnerable; but she’s self-aware, too, acknowledging the perceived burden of making her grief known: “I’m so tired of telling you/ It’s a hard time again.” She might as well be addressing her audience.
As a whole, however, Big Time is not only refreshingly approachable, but as compellingly layered as you would expect an Angel Olsen record to be. No hard time is ever really like the last. “I’m moving everything around/ I won’t get attached to the way that it was,” she promises herself this time. Naturally, dreams of the past still haunt the darker corners of the album: “The past is with us it plays a part/ How can we change it? How do we start?” she ponders on ‘Ghost On’, while on ‘Go Home’, she’s a ghost “living those old scenes.” It’s often the subtleties in her delivery that give her words a visceral power; when she repeats “I was looking at old you” on ‘Dream Thing’, old you feels more like elusive stare than the end of a sentence. It’s clear that Olsen greets those old ghosts from a place of acceptance, determined, as she ultimately sings on the beguiling ‘Through the Fires’, “To remember the ghost/ Who exists in the past/ But be freed from the longing/ For one moment to last.”
The album doesn’t exactly share All Mirrors’ grand vision, nor is it as cohesive or revelatory as My Woman. But like its title, Big Time is multifaceted; and like every Angel Olsen album, it is complex and full of contradictions. Every decision feels intuitive, and with the vast experiences it attempts to examine, the results can feel incongruous, but never dishonest or forced. The towering expanse of ‘Go Home’ doesn’t come off as a retread of her older material but rather contrasts, and in effect magnifies, the simple longing that burns at its core: “I wanna go home/ Go back to small things.” More than ever, Olsen yearns for the mundane, for genuine human connection, yet her music is no less sweeping in its impact.
What stands out to me, somewhat oddly, as Big Time’s most resonant offering is ‘All the Flowers’, a Vashti Bunyan-esque song whose melody Olsen came up with while sunbathing one day. Though the shortest track on the album, that melody sounds timeless – the song itself reflects on the hours spent trying “To be somebody/ To be alive/ And with another,” a sentiment that echoes My Woman’s ‘Intern’. Both songs recognize, from different vantage points, that the effort can be futile. Neither reaches a staggering climax. But while ‘Intern’ swells with aching desperation, ‘All the Flowers’ lets the light shine through before it inevitably fades away. For a fleeting moment, the dream is as real as ever – small and fragile yet all-encompassing. It may not last, but it lingers no matter where you are. Like the love that blossoms on Big Time, you couldn’t imagine it any other way.
Whether you’re a seasoned gamer looking for ways to take your experience to the next level, or you’re just starting out and want to get the most out of your games, these tips will help. From improving your skills to getting more out of your hardware, this short and incisive article will show you how to truly get the most out of your gaming. So read on and up your game! You won’t regret it.
The better you truly understand the rules and mechanics, the more effectively you’ll be able to play. This is because you’ll be able to make more informed decisions and know what to expect from your opponents. In addition, you’ll be able to utilize any exploits or shortcuts that may be available. So, take the time to learn everything you can about your game of choice, and it will pay off in dividends.
The more time you spend gaming, the better you’ll become at it. This is because you’ll have more opportunities to try different things and experiment with different strategies. In addition, you’ll be able to identify and correct any mistakes that you make. So, make sure to set aside some time each week to practice your gaming, and you’ll see your skills improve in no time.
If you wish to take your gaming to the next level, you need to make sure that you have the right hardware. This means having a powerful computer or console, as well as a fast internet connection. In addition, you’ll need to invest in some quality peripherals, such as a good gaming mouse and keyboard.
By making sure that you have the right hardware, you’ll be able to enjoy the best possible gaming experience.
One of the top ways to improve your gaming skills is to try new things. This could mean trying out a new game or experimenting with different strategies in your current game. In addition, you should always be on the lookout for new and upcoming games that could provide you with a fresh challenge. So don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone. It could be anything, from that new game you’ve been wanting to try, to a different way of playing your current favorite online casino game. On that point, when it comes to finding good online casinos, it’s important to look for regionally specific sites. This will help you find an online casino with games and bonuses that are tailored to your region. For example, if you’re in Australia, you can find Australian online gambling sites that offer special bonuses and promotions for Australian players. It’s tips like this that will help keep your gaming experience fresh.
Trying to beat a game without any cheats can be more rewarding and make for a more satisfying victory. This is because you’ll know that you’ve truly conquered the game. In addition, using cheats can take away from the immersion of the game. So, if you want to get the most out of your gaming experience, it’s best to avoid cheat codes altogether.
As the cannabis industry continues to grow, so do the options for products and services. This can be great news for patients and recreational users alike, but it can also mean higher costs. It’s important to be mindful of your budget when it comes to cannabis, and there are a few easy ways to save money without skimping on quality. Here are a few ways you can save money on your cannabis needs:
This is often the most cost-effective option, as you’ll only need to purchase seeds or clones and then invest in some basic supplies like soil, pots, and grow lights. If you’re not sure how to get started, there are plenty of resources available online and at your local dispensary. You’ll want to find good online seed banks or reputable dispensaries in your area that offer quality genetics. Once you have your seeds or clones, you can start growing your own cannabis at home. It’s important to do your research beforehand and make sure you’re familiar with the basics of cannabis cultivation. This way, you can avoid costly mistakes and ensure successful growth.
Collectives and cooperatives are groups of cannabis growers and/or users who band together to grow, process, and/or distribute cannabis. This can be a great way to get quality cannabis at a lower cost, as you’ll be buying in bulk. It’s important to do your research before joining a collective or cooperative, as some may require membership fees or have minimum purchase requirements. You’ll also want to make sure the group is reputable and that you feel comfortable with the people involved. It’s always a good idea to meet in person and ask plenty of questions before joining.
Many dispensaries offer discounts and promotions, so it’s always worth asking if there are any deals available. Some common discounts include student discounts, senior citizen discounts, military discounts, and first-time patient specials. Many dispensaries also offer loyalty programs that give you points for every purchase, which can be redeemed for discounts on future purchases. Some companies also offer coupons or promo codes that can be used online or in-store. When looking for the best deals and promotions on cannabis products, locals in Canada can explore the offerings of various weed stores in Kingston Ontario where they can find competitive prices and special discounts. By comparing prices and checking the promotions of different stores, customers can make informed decisions and maximize their savings. Be sure to do your research and take advantage of any deals that can help you save money on your cannabis needs. It’s also a good idea to follow your favorite dispensaries and companies on social media, as they often post about sales and promotions.
With the vast array of options now available, it’s important to shop around and compare prices before making a purchase. This is especially true for higher-priced items like cannabis concentrates and edibles. You can use websites like Weedmaps or Leafly to find dispensaries in your area and check out their menus to see what products are available and at what price point. Additionally, many dispensaries offer daily, weekly, or monthly deals on specific products, so it’s worth checking back often to see what’s on sale. When shopping for cannabis, it’s important to remember that price isn’t everything.
If you know you’ll be using a lot of cannabis, it’s often cheaper to purchase it in bulk. This is especially true for Prepaid Bulk Purchases, where you pay for your cannabis upfront and then receive it over a period of time. This can be a great way to save money if you have the budget to do so. It’s important to remember that when you purchase cannabis in bulk, you may not have as much flexibility in terms of strain selection. Therefore, it’s important to choose a strain (or several strains) that you know you’ll enjoy and that will meet your needs.
If you’re looking to save money on higher-priced items like edibles and concentrates, one option is to make your own cannabis products at home. There are plenty of recipes available online for making everything from cannabutter to cannabis tinctures. This can be a great way to control the quality and potency of your products, as well as save money in the long run. Of course, it’s important to make sure you have a good understanding of cannabis before attempting to make your own products.
There are many ways to save money on your cannabis needs. By following the tips in this article, you’ll be sure to find the best deals on the products you need. Remember to do your research, take advantage of discounts and promotions, and shop around for the best prices. With a little effort, you can easily save money on your cannabis purchases.
Before Elvis Costello found success with the Attractions, he joined fellow Liverpool musician Allan Mayes to form a band called Rusty in early 1972. Though the rock group toured for a year, they never made it into a studio. Last year, Elvis Costello received a letter from his former bandmate, which led to them resurrecting the band and recording six songs that used to be part of their setlists. Costello has shared a lengthy statement about the collaboration, which you can read below.
Today, Rusty have announced their debut record, The Resurrection of Rust, which is out digitally on June 10 and will also be available in CD format at Costello’s shows and events. It features Costello and Mayes backed by Costello’s band the Imposters and includes two originals, ‘Warm House’ and ‘Maureen and Sam’, as well as covers of tracks by Nick Lowe, Jim Ford, and Neil Young.
Last year, Elvis Costello and the Imposters released their album The Boy Named If.
The Resurrection of Rust Cover Artwork:
In 2021, my pal and singing partner in the Liverpool clubs, Allan Mayes wrote to me from his home in Austin, Texas.
He wanted to remind me that it would soon be fifty years since I joined his band, “Rusty”, just after our first meeting at a party on New Year’s Eve, 1971.
The group was then a quartet, with Allan’s school friend, Alan Brown ‐ who would play bass until he left for university later that year ‐ and there was also another vocalist called “Dave”, whose main credentials as a singer were the ownership of a microphone and tambourine.
A month later, after a couple of pretty ragged gigs, Allan and I became the only vocalists and there was not a tambourine in sight.
Show business is a cruel game.
We would rehearse in my bedroom in West Derby or at Allan’s house in the shadow of Walton Gaol, where his father was a medical officer, working our way through two pretty similar stacks of mostly American albums, looking for songs to sing.
Our repertoire did include a few of our own compositions ‐ lyrics written in various shades of purple ‐ but they were often put in the shade by the songs of Neil Young, Van Morrison and two Bob Dylan tunes; one made famous by The Byrds and the other co‐written, by Rick Danko of The Band. We played tunes by Randy Newman, John Martyn and the psychedelic band, Help Yourself.
One of our early duets was David Crosby’s epic, “Wooden Ships” before which Allan would jokingly ask if I had my lucky rabbit’s foot about me, as I was about to venture into an unsteady guitar solo on my amplified Harmony Sovereign.
Our secret weapon was certainly a stack of Nick Lowe’s songs written for Brinsley Schwarz, which were not so very well‐known then. I think some casual listeners might have actually imagined we’d written them and I can’t say we always corrected this misapprehension but I suppose we’d acted as unpaid pitchmen for Nick by the time we met him, when the Brinsleys came to play “The Cavern”.
For the next year or so Rusty played the folk clubs and pubs on either side of the Mersey, acting as a musical interlude at poetry evenings organized by Harold and Sylvia Hikins or provided background music to nervous conversation at a lonely hearts gathering held in the RAF Club on Bold Street.
We were paid exactly nothing for playing “Mary Help Of Christians” ‐ a Catholic girls school, known locally as “Mary Feed The Pigeons” ‐ and opened up for the Natural Acoustic Band at John Lennon’s old school, Quarry Bank High and then for the Irish duo, Tir Na Nog, in the little recital room at St. George’s Hall, where Charles Dickens had once given a public reading. That show was on the eve of my rainy departure for the Bickershaw Festival at which I contracted something close to trench foot while watching the Grateful Dead in a sodden field.
We even took one fairly disastrous booking as a wedding band on Cantril Farm for which we hired a drummer and had to rescue the night with an impromptu medley of Chuck Berry songs.
When teenage girls at our Friday night pub residency, in nearby Widnes, demanded the hits of Slade and T.Rex, we tried to ease their hunger for Marc Bolan with a couple of Lindisfarne songs, which were at least in the pop charts.
It was all part of learning your trade as we were certainly only earning enough money to put petrol in Allan’s Ford Anglia and, failing this, ran our own musical evenings until the club owner of “The Yankee Clipper” realized that our Tuesday night crowd only nursed one pint of beer all night and didn’t put enough in the till to pay either the barman or the electricity bill and we were sent on our way to find safer harbour at “The Temple Bar”.
Nevertheless, by the summer of ’72 we were playing up to five or six nights a week. I was still at school, supposedly studying for my A‐Levels. Once I got a job, we had to schedule our Rusty gigs around my shift work as a computer operator until early in 1973, when I decided to leave Liverpool looking for something and took to this long and crooked road.
I asked if Allan wanted to come with me but I had a place to live with my Dad and he had a steady job to give up and I suppose I thought we might travel lighter and further alone.
Allan had always been the more accomplished, presentable performer ‐ even then, I looked like a sack of spuds that had been left out in the rain. He continued to play the local club circuit after I left town, took over a group he re‐named, “Restless” (formerly “Severed Head”) and even made raids down from Merseyside to hit the London pub circuit of 1975 and found themselves playing the same venue and same week as my own semi‐pro band, Flip City. Allan recorded a solo album in the early 80s before traveling the world, playing on cruise ships in the Pacific and in oil worker bars in Alaska, before settling in Texas, where he still plays other people’s songs that other people want to hear in a strong true voice.
Allan Mayes has been a hard working musician for more than the fifty years since we met.
So, when he asked me if I wanted to celebrate this anniversary by getting together to play a few songs that we used to know.
I said, “Absolutely not!”
“Let’s make the record we would have cut when we were 18, if anyone had let us”.
And this is what you will hear on “The Resurrection Of Rust”.
The E.P. contains new renditions of songs from our 1972 club repertoire; our duets on two Nick Lowe tunes from 1972; “Surrender To The Rhythm” and “Don’t Lose Your Grip On Love”‐ and closes with an arrangement incorporating Neil Young’s “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere” and “Dance, Dance, Dance” which marks my recording debut on the electric violin.
The stand out for me is Allan’s touching rendition of “I’m Ahead If I Can Quit While I’m Behind”, a song written by the Kentucky songwriter, Jim Ford, who wrote hits for Aretha Franklin, P.J. Proby and Bobby Womack.
Most of our own early compositions from the Rusty days exist only in lyrical form, scrawled in our old notebooks, the tunes long forgotten but we did have a reel‐to‐reel demo of “Warm House”, a song which I began when I was 17 and which could be found in nearly all of our set lists and found here with full vocal and band arrangement driven by mandolin.
Remarkably, Allan still has an old school exercise book in which he kept a record of all the venues we ever played. “The Resurrection Of Rust” record sleeve is decorated with a collage of flyers, posters, playbills and diary entries of the time along with some of our setlist from that exercise book which also acted as an accounts ledger for our rather modest earnings, hitting the heady heights of £17 ‐ our largest fee coming at our very final gig, opening up for Cockney Rebel ‐ but frequently amounting to no more than a couple of quid and with several dispiriting entries which read: “Paid: Nil”.
The second original tune is a co‐written portrait of a struggling cabaret act called, “Maureen and Sam”, the verses are taken by Allan with very spare accompaniment before I arrive in the bridges with a distorted electric guitar, piano, bass and drums, all of which I recorded in the basement of Sentry Sound.
Keen listeners may recognize the theme of this song as one I re‐wrote as “Ghost Train” and recorded in 1980, changing “Sam” to “Stan” and setting my new lyric to an entirely different melody.
Allan and I quickly re‐discovered the vocal blend that convinced us that we might conquer the world (or at least Widnes) when we were teenagers but to bring Rusty into the 21st Century, I enlisted the talents of The Imposters and we were delighted to invite our old pal, Bob Andrews, to revisit his signature Hammond organ and piano parts on the Brinsley Schwarz showstopper, “Surrender To The Rhythm”.
Like most things today, these sessions connected Sentry Sound, Vancouver with Austin, TX, Santa Fe, NM and Los Angeles, CA by the magic of the musical telegraph.
“The Resurrection Of Rust” was produced by Elvis Costello and Sebastian Krys.
Jessie Buckley and Bernard Butler have shared a new song titled ‘Footnotes on the Map’, which features guest vocalist Sam Lee. It’s the latest offering from their upcoming album For All Our Days That Tear The Heart, following ‘Seven Red Rose Tattoos’, ‘The Eagle and the Dove’, and the title track. The pair also performed the song on Later with Jools over the weekend. Take a listen and check out their performances below.
According to a press release, ‘Footnotes on the Map’ was inspired by Robert McFarlane, whose writing explores the way walking reinforces our spiritual connection to the land around us. “In Aboriginal lore, there’s a belief that people mapped their immediate environment in song,” McFarlane recently said. “Each step was a note in a song that represented a journey. And that’s a hugely powerful idea.”
For All Our Days That Tear the Heart is set for release on June 10 via EMI.
Throughout the week, we update our Best New Songs playlist with the new releases that caught our attention the most, be it a single leading up to the release of an album or a newly unveiled deep cut. And each Monday, we round up the best new songs released over the past week (the eligibility period begins on Monday and ends Sunday night) in this best new music segment.
On this week’s list, we have Sky Ferreira’s first new song in three years, the gleaming ‘Don’t Forget’, which is set to appear on her long-delayed album Masochism; Alex G’s new single, which is at once eerily noisy and strangely confident; Ganser’s propulsive, chilling new track ‘People Watching’; Tallahassee band Pool Kids’ irresistible ‘That’s Physics, Baby’, which blends nostalgic guitar pop with elements of math rock; ‘Dog Song’, a dynamic standout from Sweet Pill’s debut LP Where the Heart Is; Momma’s latest song ‘Lucky’, which feels both earnestly emotional and anthemic; and Rosie Carney’s ‘chihiro’, an enveloping highlight from her new album i wanna feel happy.
Best New Songs: May 30, 2022
Song of the Week: Sky Ferreira, ‘Don’t Forget’
Alex G, ‘Blessing’
Ganser, ‘People Watching’
Pool Kids, ‘That’s Physics, Baby’
Sweet Pill, ‘Dog Song’
Momma, ‘Lucky’
Rosie Carney, ‘chihiro’
Ronnie Hawkins, rockabilly star and mentor to the Band, has died at the age of 87. Hawkins’ wife Wanda confirmed that her husband died after a long illness to the CBC, stating: “He went peacefully and he looked as handsome as ever.”
Hawkins was born in Huntsville, Arkansas in 1935 and was raised in Fayetteville, where his family moved when he was a child. He began performing in local bars in 1953, and a few years later future the Band member Levon Helm joined him as part of the Hawks. On the advice of country singer Conway Twitty, Hawkins relocated to Hamilton, Ontario, where he put together a band that included Helm, guitarist-songwriter Robbie Robertson, keyboardists Garth Hudson and Richard Manuel, and bassist Rick Danko. These musicians went on to play backup for Bob Dylan and later recorded as the Band.
After finding success with his rendition of ‘Hey, Bo Diddley’, Hawkins put out a self-titled LP that featured his versions of ‘Forty Days’ and ‘Mary Lou’. He achieved his biggest hit with a cover of Bo Diddley’s ‘Who Do You Love’. The energy of his live shows earned him nicknames such as “Mr. Dynamo” and “Rompin’ Ronnie,” and his trademark dance move became known as the “camel walk.”
Hawkins appeared in Martin Scorsese’s 1978 documentary The Last Waltz, which chronicled the Band’s farewell concert at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. Other special on-stage guests included Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, and Neil Young. He also portrayed Dylan in the 1978 film Renaldo and Clara, which Dylan directed.
In 1989, Hawkins published an autobiography called Last of the Good Ol’ Boy. A 2004 documentary about Hawkins, Still Alive and Kickin, was narrated by Dan Aykroyd and featured a cameo from Bill Clinton. He was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Junos in 1996, and, in 2013, was named a member of the Order of Canada for “his contributions to the development of the music industry in Canada, as a rock’n’roll musician and for his support of charitable causes.”
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Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre has been adapted for the screen many times, but the 2011 film adaptation is perhaps the most successful in capturing the Gothic moodiness of the novel. Mia Wasikowska portrays the titular character, imbuing Jane with a sense of innocence despite her rough childhood. When Jane becomes the governess at Thornfield Hall, she is thrust into an environment of isolation and secrecy. The mysterious Edward Rochester (Michael Fassbender) who owns the property is rarely present, and when he is, he is alternately reticent and remarkably perceptive. Nevertheless, or perhaps because of his enigmatic nature, Jane feels drawn to him.
The film is distinguishable from other adaptations of classic Gothic novels because of its beautiful cinematography, which focuses on Jane’s surroundings – the moors, the wilderness around Thornfield, the gardens within its walls, and the shadows inside each room and hallway. Jane’s internal conflict – or the occasional moment of contented peace – is reflected in every image the viewer sees throughout the film’s runtime. Similarly, here are nine other moody period dramas for viewers who enjoyed Jane Eyre.
Andrea Arnold’s adaptation of Emily Brontë’s novel draws on similar material – another Brontë sister’s work published in 1847 whose female characters are troubled. Like Jane Eyre, the setting of Wuthering Heights is an isolated, weathered place surrounded by moors. Wuthering Heights follows the life of Heathcliff (James Howson and Solomon Glave), an orphan adopted by a farmer named Earnshaw (Paul Hilton), whose daughter Cathy (Kaya Scodelario and Shannon Beer) grows close with Heathcliff. Gradually, their relationship becomes romantic, but this angers Cathy’s brother Hindley (Lee Shaw). The isolated property is home to butting tempers, interpersonal conflicts, and subtle discrimination. Outside, the weather is miserable and the grounds perpetually muddy. This adaptation of Wuthering Heights is a visually gorgeous companion to 2011’s Jane Eyre, sharing many stylistic and story-related similarities.
Jane Campion’s Palme d’Or winner The Piano is set on the wild coast of nineteenth-century New Zealand. A mute pianist (Holly Hunter) arrives on the country’s shore with her young daughter (Anna Paquin), their possessions, and a piano, ready to marry a man she’s never met (Sam Neill). Instead, the woman rejects her fiance’s advances and falls in love with a Maori man (Harvey Keitel). The Piano is rife with stolen glances, restrained emotion, and enigmatic characters. The diverse natural setting makes for a suitable backdrop to the characters’ drama and reflects their inner conflicts. Even though she doesn’t speak, Ada is a compelling character who maintains her autonomy and makes decisions for herself. She may not express her feelings through language, but she finds many other means of communication, including her precocious daughter. The Piano is a must-watch for fans of moody period dramas.
Frequent collaborators Keira Knightley and Joe Wright teamed up again for his screen adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. Like the novel, the film follows Anna (Knightley) as she grows unhappy in her unfulfilling marriage to a high-ranking aristocrat (Jude Law). Anna meets the much younger Count Vrosnky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and feels drawn to him even though he’s supposed to be courting Princess Kitty (Alicia Vikander). Meanwhile, Kitty is the object of another man’s affections – Levin (Domhnall Gleeson), an aristocrat who prefers country life over the city, and is thus disparaged by his peers. Levin is a friend of Anna’s brother, Oblonsky (Matthew Macfadyen), whose wife has just cast him out after learning of his infidelity. This overlapping circle of aristocrats is laid out for the viewer like a tableau of players on a theatre stage, which happens to be the literal framing device for many of the scenes in this film. Highly stylized, Anna Karenina will appeal to fans of period costumes, set design, forbidden romances, and Dario Marianelli’s scores.
Another Wright and Knightley project, Atonement is an adaptation of the novel by Ian McEwan. Set in England before and during World War II, the story is set into motion when thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan) tells a lie that incriminates the family’s groundskeeper Robbie Turner (James McAvoy) and prevents him from being with Briony’s older sister Cecelia (Knightley). The film is as moody as its characters, who are irritable in the summer heat of the first act when the crime is committed. Cecelia and Robbie are pained by their restrained emotions and frustrated that they haven’t acted on them sooner, while Briony acts with a disturbing determination and lack of remorse. The war sequences are just as emotional and impactful, heightening the stakes of what begins as a contained family drama.
Though steeped in tragedy, Les Misérables is an epic tale that does offer some moments of levity. Victor Hugo’s classic novel has been adapted for the screen many times, but the 2012 adaptation leans most heavily into melodrama, which will appeal to fans of Jane Eyre and other moody period dramas. Directed by Tom Hooper, this musical adaptation remains true to the original story, plot-wise, but adds more dramatic flair through its musical numbers, which effectively accentuate the emotional beats. Hugh Jackman stars as Jean Valjean, a prisoner who escapes parole to lead a new life in Paris about twenty years after the French Revolution. However, he’s closely pursued by Inspector Javert (Russell Crowe), a ruthless police officer. In his quest to become a new man, Valjean is tormented by his past, but he tries his best to help those in need, like his worker Fantine (Anne Hathaway in an Academy Award-winning performance) and her illegitimate daughter (Amanda Seyfried).
Pablo Larraín’s Spencer follows Princess Diana’s struggles during the Christmas of 1991. She feels like an outsider in her own family, especially because her marriage has become little more than a formal arrangement, and she must adhere to the royal family’s strict rules around ceremony and decorum. Diana, however, simply wants to live freely and express herself as she pleases. The film beautifully captures Diana’s internal conflict, taking her to her dilapidated childhood home in the middle of the night, or driving along empty roads with the wind in her hair. Kristen Stewart’s nuanced performance in the titular role scored her an Academy Award nomination.
Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara star in this romantic drama set in 1950s Manhattan. Therese (Mara) works at a department store, where she serves a classy customer named Carol (Blanchett). The two instantly strike up an interesting connection, and Therese decides to pursue it when she realizes she has feelings for Carol. Both women work hard to restrain their emotions, knowing that their mutual attraction would not be accepted by wider society, and also because both have relationships with men. Carol in particular hides a deep pain, and Blanchett’s award-winning performance is a standout aspect of the film. In addition, the cinematography brings the darkness of the characters’ surroundings into sharp focus, utilizing mirrors, cab windows, raindrops, muted colors, and shadows to their full potential.
Another Jane Campion feature, The Power of the Dog is set in 1920s Montana, where a boy named Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee) lives with his single mother Rose (Kirsten Dunst). When Rose meets and marries a kind but submissive man named George (Jesse Plemons), Peter moves with her to the ranch George shares with his brother Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch). Overshadowed by mountain ranges, the ranch and plains below are perpetually haunted by an intangible darkness. Phil himself is a menacing character who taunts Peter and his mother, with either words or alcohol. Beneath the bubbling tensions between the characters is something deeper – oppressed emotions, which threaten the tenuous thread of peace holding the family together. The Power of the Dog is a brooding slow-burn in tune with the social setting of the time period, the characters’ moods, and the effect of their natural surroundings.
Loosely based on a true story, The Revenant is a different kind of period drama. Following the survival journey of explorer Hugh Glass in nineteenth-century Montana and South Dakota, the story begins when Glass is attacked by a bear. His fellow hunters abandon him and soon believe him to be dead. However, he survives and vows to take revenge on those who betrayed him. Leonardo DiCaprio’s Glass spends much of the film in solitude, brewing over the ways he can exact revenge and connecting with his natural surroundings, as brutal and bleak as they are. With gorgeous cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki (shot in chronological order), the film may look gloomy, but the story is fuelled by intense emotion and a desire to use a second chance at life to avenge lost loved ones.
Jenny Gillespie Mason, aka Sis, has shared a remix of her single ‘Double Rapture’ by producer Matthew Herbert, who is known for his work with Radiohead and Björk among others. Listen to it below.
Mason said of the remix in a statement: “I wanted to work with Matthew Herbert to remix Double Rapture because I knew he would be able to take the romantic and tender essence of the song and stretch it into something even more cinematic and lush.”
‘Double Rapture’ appears on Sis’ latest EP Gnani, which came out in January. Check out our Artist Spotlight interview with Sis.
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