VARIOUS ARTISTS
Transamerica Soundtrack
Nettwerk
· O, the healing properties of the highway song
There has always been an indelible link between music and modern cinema. It was during the Coen brothers’ O Brother, Where Art Thou? that I first witnessed the true power of such a partnership. I remember hearing, er, experiencing Alison Kraus’s "Down to the River to Pray" washing over me in baptismal bliss as the parade of sauntering sinners descended into their holy ablution. It was so moving I nearly fell to my knees, right there amid the candy-wrappers and kernels.
The Transamerica soundtrack boasts a similar quality to that of the hugely successful O Brother. The premise of the film sees the main character, Bree (a.k.a. Stanley) embark on a road trip with her newly acquainted 17-year-old son. Much of the soundtrack parallels this awkward and adventurous journey. Perhaps that is why the earthy, front-porch feel of each ditty serves to ease the story’s tension so effectively. Themes of hope, redemption, love and longing permeate each song, most of which are woven together so intuitively they almost blend like hymnal notes. Mandolin and other traditional stringed folk instruments are predominant in the majority of songs, including nods from roots troubadours The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Old Crow Medicine Show.
Duncan Sheik’s soft and subtle version of "I Am a Pilgrim" (plucked from the Byrds’ Sweetheart of the Rodeo era) breathes beautifully between the exuberant pick and fiddle jaunt of "There’s a New Moon Over My Shoulder" and the bright rhythmic cadence of Miriam Makeba’s "Jol’ Ikomo." Punctuated throughout by David Mansfield’s tasteful instrumental score, there really aren’t any fillers to be found here. Someone even had the good sense to resurrect Lucinda Williams’s achingly sweet "Like a Rose," which fittingly stirs the emotional embers of the film while rounding out a genuinely touching assortment of some very fine roots music. Let the highway pilgrimage begin.
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