Jon Brion
What is it?: For people of a certain emotional disposition and a perhaps unreasonably esoteric set of comedic and philosophical hot buttons, I Heart Huckabees is a touchstone of modern American entertainment. The film is the rarest of creatures, pounding its chest as a beacon of philosophical ideation even while continually taking the piss out of itself with the disarming ability and willingness to heel-turn into screwball absurdism. With a cast of characters nothing short of pitch perfect in chemistry and commitment to their roles it occupies a space separate and apart from nearly all other films.
While most filmmakers might have been content to slap some clumsily generic score in the background and fill up the rest of the sonic space with popular songs that are “easy”, director David O. Russell had the good sense to tap Jon Brion as his music man. One can imagine it had to be next to impossible to match songs to the mood of the film. We’re discussing a story after all whose plot is kicked off with coincidences between an environmentalist/poet and an African refugee. From there the narrative proceeds to fabricate a claptrap Rube Goldberg machine that trips over its surrealism and genuine philosophical meanderings to finally morph into a feel-good story of inner-life redemption for all its main characters.
I’ll be damned if Brion’s collection of whimsical ditties doesn’t turn out to be more than up to the task of measuring up.
Why isn’t it on vinyl?: Gross negligence. Any other explanation rings hollow when the facts are given their full due. To wit:
- The soundtrack was released before our current vinyl “boom” period, which began around 2008-9. OK, fair play. But since that resurgence in vinyl buying, many films have had their scores pressed or repressed for the express purpose of selling more of them on wax.
- The fanbase of …Huckabees is almost exactly the demographic that would be fascinated with (and eager to buy) a quality vinyl presentation of its music.
- There exist boutique vinyl makers (looking at you, Mondo) who specialize in re-/creating vinyl to accompany classic or cult films, often going through the time and expense of remastering and updating the art to make the new product unique and glamorous. This vinyl would lend itself to that treatment amazingly well.
Why should it be?: Jon Brion’s work here is a gossamer elephant that lumbers around the room and astonishes with its fragility. The instrumentals carry a bittersweet sense of disaffection, but they hold it gingerly in a way that makes plain the heart inside them, a heart that wants nothing more than to beat with purpose. They lyrical numbers are simple but effective.
The sum of the parts is a refined but unassuming listen that is perfect for an evening alone, an afternoon garden party, a day buried in housework, a car ride in the dusk - this is what vinyl is made for (minus the car ride, I suppose). This vinyl simply needs to happen, and that is not a judgement I would make lightly.
