Under The Influence

Spike Jonze's wonderful interpretation of the fabled children's story 'Where The Wild Things Are' needed a strong soundtrack to accompany the trip into the imagination of Max, the lead character.

Luckily, he passed the responsibility to his ex-girlfriend, Karen O (Yeah Yeah Yeahs). She has come up with a wonderful record, full of childlike wonder. 2 tracks stand out for me. 'Hideaway', with it's gentle rolling melody evoking the crashing of waves on the shore, and the lead single 'All Is Love' (featured here).

Jonze wanted the soundtrack to have a similar feel to the Langley Schools Music Project (go here for more information), and with 'All Is Love', Karen O has more than succeeded. Using an untrained children's choir coupled with joyful lyrics, just listening to the chorus will melt the coldest heart. Under the right circumstances, if you listen to this song you'll probably start to cry with happiness.

Never has a song been sung with such joy and love. One, Two, Ready, Go!!

Howzer! This is twisted. Really twisted. I believe this is the result of a school teacher deciding to teach his kids a bunch of pop songs (Beach Boys, Beatles, Bowie etc) - the recordings of which disappeared for many years before being unearthed and praised by the original composers (Bowie included).

Some years ago someone mentioned to me that they couldn't stand listening to children sing (that came out sounding worse than it really was). I think it affected me on some subconscious level as I've found listening to recordings of children singing (eg Stevie Wonder) a tad awkward since. This pushes far beyond those boundaries.

The choir is accompanied by acoustic guitar, a drum and a cymbal (oh and there's a piano sometimes too). It's basically out of tune/time most the way through but there are eery moments when everything falls where it's meant to. The girl that sings Desperado has a great voice.

Sweet Caroline is wicked, Rhiannon too. I think I'm actually starting to like this.