18 Nov 2013

Teeth of the Sea live remix of A field in England – a review


Teeth of the Sea performed their live soundtrack to the great Ben Wheatly film A Field in England at  Cork Film Festival on Saturday…We are Noise have written the following review:

"...There was a brief interval as London psych group Teeth of the Sea rearranged the stage for A Field in England: Remixed. My advance understanding of this show was that it would consist of a live original soundtrack played to reworked sections of A Field in England, Ben Wheatley’s English Civil War film released this year.

Philip Ilson came back on to make fresh introductions for this specially commissioned work and to explain the extent of the permissions underpinning the project, which extended to financiers Film 4, director Wheatley and the film’s original composer Jim Williams, who was in attendance among the packed house.

And so, there were on stage… a trumpet, a bow playing something indeterminate which was laid flat, an electric guitar and a couple of tabletops’ worth of effects. As our cast of ill-fated deserters arrived on the screen, the band created a slow build with extremes – these were ear-piercing high frequencies contrasted with a shuddering bass end that seemed about to levitate the entire audience. Very soon, it began to feel like a church in Cork remixed.

The arresting black and white photography presented many memorable images – wind blowing through long grass, close ups of helmeted faces approaching a mushroom circle at ground level, a caterpillar trudging along a twig silhouetted by the sun – meanwhile there was plaintiff trumpet and a lovely swirling wash of guitar chords…"

Read the rest of the review here: We are Noise

Photo courtesy of Mark Graham

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