QUILTY: PAINTING THE SHADOWS
(InSync)
8/10
If you have taken up painting during the lockdown, you might want to try working away to this. Quilty: Painting the Shadows is the soundtrack for Catherine Hunter’s documentary about Ben Quility, and, while some film music can seem a nudge anaemic when taken out of context, this is absolutely gripping all by itself. It was composed by Amanda Brown and Damian Lane, who are joined in performance by pianist Chris Abrahams (the Necks) and the country’s most versatile rhythm section: bassist Jonathan Zwartz and drummer Hamish Stuart.
The 25 pieces are mainly atmospheric fragments, although others, despite their brevity, are self-contained instrumental songs – and the wonder of these is that, beyond loosely coming from the arty, more evocative end of rock, they have no obvious precursors, such is the collective invention and originality. Much of the music was created on the spot as the players watched the film, a process that can only work with empathetic improvisers of high calibre, and many sounds were arrived at using unconventional techniques. The recording quality, meanwhile, is such that you will think you’ve just acquired a new pair of ears.