Black Francis and The Golem? Score!

There are things in life that excite me way more than they should. One of those is hearing that a band or solo artist is doing music for a silent film or ballet. There always a chance it'll be horrible as the ability to write a great song is not necessarily the same skill that goes into scoring a film, and even if it works live, there's no guarantee it will stand up as a listenable album, but I still get giddy at the thought of the possibility. I almost always miss the actual performances. Some memorable ones are Yo La Tengo scoring Jean Painlevé's undersea short films called The Sounds of the Sounds of Silence, Rachel's' Music For Egon Schiele, the Mountain Goats' recent scoring of the 1919 silent film Sir Arne's Treasure, Dean and Britta scoring Andy Warhol's Screen Tests (which I was lucky enough to see), and Black Francis scoring the 1920 silent film The Golem: How He Came into the World. Given my Pixies worship and love of the Golem tale I was particularly excited about the last one. I was also doubtful the resulting album would be interesting enough to listen to on its own. Turns out my worry was for naught. The album's shockingly good. The songs are complete. Heartfelt and often full of sorrow, I find myself moved each time I listen to it. I don't know how well it will hold up with repeated listens, but for now, I'm in heaven.

Black Francis' The Maharal

The Pixies' In Heaven (Lady In The Radiator Song)