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Wicker Park OST features 17 tracks from some of the hottest Modern Rock bands
By: ModernRock.com
July 17th 2004 7:30am
“There’s a magical equation at work with this album, the spark that makes something more than the sum of its parts,” says Lakeshore Records vice-president/general manager Brian McNelis of the soundtrack to “Wicker Park,” which stars Josh Hartnett. “The film is an obsessive love story, and the soundtrack absolutely captures that feeling – when you listen to it, you’re completely immersed in this very personal, wanting place.”
Listeners are transported to this psychic space by a who’s who of what McNelis calls “super-cool, super-credible” artists, including Stereophonics, The Shins, Death Cab For Cutie, Mazzy Star, The Postal Service, Snow Patrol, Mogwai, Mum and +/- . Rounding out Wicker Park Original Soundtrack (due Aug. 24 on Lakeshore Records) are Lifehouse, Broken Social Scene, The Stills, The Legends, Jaime Wyatt, Mates Of State, Aqualung and Johnette Napolitano and Danny Lohner (on a cover of Coldplay’s “The Scientist”).
The Lifehouse offering is a particularly good example of the “you are there” quality of the soundtrack. “Jason Wade, who fronts Lifehouse, saw the movie and was inspired to write ‘Everybody Is Somebody,’” McNelis informs. “It comes from the perspective of Rose Byrne’s character, Alex, who’s caught up in her desperate passion for, and manipulation of, Josh Hartnett’s character, Matt. When you hear the song, it’s like you’re inside her head.”
“Wicker Park” director Paul McGuigan and music supervisor Liza Richardson sought not only to select songs that suggested the thematic content of the film but that also presented a unified sonic experience. “The soundtrack is amazingly cohesive,” attests McNelis. “The sound is consistently ethereal, ephemeral, cool and always romantic. All the songs have a yearning, emotional gravity; they flow together seamlessly.”
McNelis is particularly excited about The Postal Service’s revelatory interpretation of “Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now),” originally recorded by Phil Collins. The lead track from Wicker Park, it’s another example of what he considers the serendipity at play in the creation of the soundtrack: “It is truly an alignment of the stars to have the theme from a movie about obsessive love from 20 years ago [1984’s “Against All Odds”] – that also happened to be a #1 hit and is The Postal Service’s first soundtrack contribution – on this record. When I reached out to the band’s label about getting something from them for Wicker Park, they said, “We have this non-album track; it’s a cover of a pop song called ‘Against All Odds.’ I was floored. I said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding.’ For me, personally, that’s the crown jewel of this album.”
Something similar transpired with the Snow Patrol cut. McNelis continues: “The Wicker Park soundtrack was pretty much done when I got a call from a music publisher about a completely unrelated matter. I mentioned the album to him and he said, ‘Let me send you this song that would be perfect for that.’ So he sends it to me and it’s “How To Be Dead,” which I’d had on infinite repeat in my car for three days. Stuff like that just kept happening on this project.”
For McNelis, the charmed nature and exceptional cohesion of the soundtrack extended to the team entrusted to compile it. “From Paul McGuigan to Liza Richardson to the Lakeshore staff and the managers and label people involved – everyone had a real passion to make this record the absolute best it could be. There was a level of communication and collaboration that I’ve rarely seen.”
Considering the impeccably hip credentials of Wicker Park Original Soundtrack – which by definition means many of its songs are from cutting-edge, underground, independent artists – it’s surprising that McNelis compares it to one of the biggest pop hits of the modern era. “I was working in a record store when the Pretty In Pink soundtrack came out, and this reminds me of that,” he says. “That album just captured the cultural zeitgeist of a musical moment. Wicker Park does the same thing in much the same way. It’s Pretty In Pink for this generation.”
MGM Pictures and Lakeshore Entertainment present “Wicker Park,” a Lakeshore Entertainment production (based on the motion picture “L’Appartement”) directed by Paul McGuigan, written by Brandon Boyce and starring Josh Hartnett, Rose Byrne, Matthew Lillard and Diane Kruger. Wicker Park premieres Sept. 3.
TRACK LISTING:
1. Maybe Tomorrow – Stereophonics
2. Everybody Is Somebody – Lifehouse
(exclusive song written for soundtrack album)
3. A Movie Script Ending – Death Cab For Cutie
(exclusive unreleased acoustic version)
4. How To Be Dead – Snow Patrol
5. Lover’s Spit – Broken Social Scene
6. Retour A Vega – The Stills
(unreleased track)
7. Flowers in December – Mazzy Star
8. When The Day Is Done – The Legends
9. When I Goosestep – The Shins
(rare, non-album track)
10. Light Switch – Jaime Wyatt
(exclusive song written for soundtrack album)
11. These Days – Mates of State
(rare, non-album track)
12. All I Do - +/-
13. We Have a Map of the Piano – Mum
14. Against All Odds – Postal Service
(rare, non-album track)
15. Strange and Beautiful – Aqualung
16. I know You Are But What Am I? - Mogwai
17. The Scientist – Johnette Napolitano & Danny Lohner
(exclusive cover of the Coldplay song recorded for soundtrack album)
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