Search - Boxhead Ensemble :: Dutch Harbor: Where The Sea Breaks Its Back - Original Film Soundtrack

Scripted as a soundtrack to Braden King and Laura Moya's largely gray-scale documentary Dutch Harbor: Where the Sea Breaks Its Back, this left-of-tonally flowing music is entrancing. Perhaps like the geography covered in the film, the music eschews jutting events, opting instead for atmospheric stretches of guitar, bass, piano, saxophones, and electronics. With Gastr del Sol vets like David Grubbs and Jim O'Rourke playing alongside jazz maverick Ken Vandermark, it's hardly surprising that the music tilts towards the eerie in its nutty calm. Will Oldham makes an appearance on "Ebb's Folly," which comes off as an unshaved, hoarse sea song, touched by postpunk. Vandermark makes great reed billows, emphasizing the somewhat formless shapes and blurred edges this CD has throughout its 70 minutes. For Gastr and Vandermark and Palace and Rick Rizzo fans, this is a winner. For everyone else, it's also a winner. --Andrew Bartlett