Search - Anja Garbarek :: Angel a

3 1/2 stars-- decent soundtrack/score.

Michael Stack | North Chelmsford, MA USA | 01/26/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This is the soundtrack for Luc Besson's "Angela", primarily featuring the music of Anja Garbarek. It features 14 tracks by her, 7 available nowhere else with the other seven taken from her other albums. In this, it provides a nice overview for newcomers to Garbarek's music while giving fans the opportunity to hear new material. The album is augmented by four pieces by other artists.



To say that Garbarek's music is diverse is an understatement-- her first album (unrepresented here) was primarily a Norwegian-languagesynth pop record, but after that is when she got interesting, whether an exploration of startlingly diverse electronica on the album "Balloon Mood" (from whence "Beyond My Control", "The Cabinet" and the title track "Balloon Mood"), fusing of acoustic and orchestral instruments with electronica rhythms and stylings on its followup "Smiling & Waving" ("Her Room" and the fantastic "Spin the Context") or the then-forthcoming alternative-art rock of "Briefly Shaken" (the simply sublime and somewhat creepy "Can I Keep Him?").



The new tracks by Garbarek are split between moody incidentals for the score and a couple new songs. The former material is all quite nice and atmospheric, particularly electronica swirl "Andre Running" and the delicate synth pipe and guitar of "andre face au mirroir". The few new songs are an intriguing mix of instruments-- similar in feel to the material on "Smiling & Waving" but with a bit more volume and energy, almost pointing the way forward. Particularly notable is "No Trace of Grey", in which instruments seem to swirl in and out of the mix in an almost Brian Wilson-like fashion and the swing-soaked "It's Just a Game", better appreciated in its instrumental reading with a swaggering sax in lead.



The four cuts by artists other than Garbarek are all quite different from each other. Eat's "Crossroads" is a noisy blues that owes more to the Velvet Underground and Lou Reed than anything else, with a sink-speak vocal and some fantastic noisy guitar work. Radar's "Captivante" is totally bizarre, fusing eastern string sounds with a funky, programmed-but-almost-tribal beat. The two pieces by Hiro My Hero were not my style-- kind of a funk/soul thing but overall I found them a bit lackluster.



In the end, this is an enjoyable compilation of material and a must purchase for any fans of Anja Garbarek. It's a bit lacking in new material, but viewing it as a compilation with some new work, it's a good record."

THis is a good as the best Bjork.

thedre | San Francisco | 11/10/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is very intriguing, hip, cool, stylized inventive arranging and writing. Way beyond pop crap. Fascinating, the way David Sylvian's Brilliant Trees was fascinating. Also, it's has some great grooves...a very special artist, and a great sample of her work. Angel is a gas of a movie...and more so if you're a guy...as the female star will knock you out of your world. This has the magic we're always looking for in music."