| · Film director compiles his own soundtrack work.
Hiding until recently under the pseudonym of Ned Rifle, American indie film director Hal Hartley has been scoring his own films since his 1989 debut The Unbelievable Truth.
While the liner notes to this collection emphasize that his compositions were always collaborative efforts they were also, like his cinema, distinctively Hartley – gentle, slightly awkward and self-conscious, but interesting and disarmingly direct.
Unlike Vincent Gallo, Hartley is not a natural musician – his style is of American minimalist miniatures for the most part, inevitably reminiscent of the 1980s New York art-pop scene (Laurie Anderson, etc.) or, now that I think about it, Gus van Sant's early musical work. As is usual for soundtracks, this music does not work as well without its associated images, and particularly not when listened to in a single sitting. But there is enough that is memorable and original among these 26 tracks to justify the package.
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