With the release of Radiohead's new album today and the music video 'Daydreaming', directed by Paul Thomas Anderson a few days ago, I decided to compile all previous PTA/Radiohead collaboration into a piece on their atmospheric output with some corresponding thoughts. Up to this point, most collaboration has been done between Paul Thomas Anderson (director) and Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments of Radiohead). There is also a video essay on the meaning of the 'Daydreaming' music video here.
I apologize in advance for any mistakes I might make about music here. Please correct me. I know nothing about music only that I like it.
I apologize in advance for any mistakes I might make about music here. Please correct me. I know nothing about music only that I like it.
There Will Be Blood (2007) and Jonny Greenwood - I watch this opening shot now and I see everything, the whole film: man's greed and excessive exploitation of his land will lead to his downfall. We see a barren landscape synchronized with Jonny Greenwood's sound of doom. It's abrasive and tells the story and tone simultaneously and immediately. Let doom play out; enter Daniel Day Lewis and the rest of Greenwood's contribution.
The Master (2012) and Jonny Greenwood - this is the hardest of PTA's film to get into. It follows a navy veteran losing his purpose in life after serving and subsequently engaging with a radical pseudo religion movement. Greenwood's job here is different to There Will Be Blood and much more personal. Instead of personifying the plot trajectory, he now needs to personify the inner mood of this veteran. We need to be unsettled when Joaquin's character is unsettled and at ease when he is put ease because this is the story of a man's attraction and rejection to order in his life; fundamentally concerning his interaction with spiritualism/religion.
The music helps us to know when he is inclined towards the life he has or away from it. His life between leaving the navy and encountering the church is chaotic and short-lived so so are the sounds punctuating it. An agogo strikes sporadically which is jarring and there's something primal or at least tribal about it. The musical notes then becoming longer and steadier when he engages and relaxes with Lancaster Dodd. A harp and I think an organ then really flag up the acquiescence of the charismatic and the spiritual; two pillars of religious obedience. Then dramatically the agogo returns implying that resentment towards order is re-emerging in the mind of Phoenix's Freddie Quell.
The music helps us to know when he is inclined towards the life he has or away from it. His life between leaving the navy and encountering the church is chaotic and short-lived so so are the sounds punctuating it. An agogo strikes sporadically which is jarring and there's something primal or at least tribal about it. The musical notes then becoming longer and steadier when he engages and relaxes with Lancaster Dodd. A harp and I think an organ then really flag up the acquiescence of the charismatic and the spiritual; two pillars of religious obedience. Then dramatically the agogo returns implying that resentment towards order is re-emerging in the mind of Phoenix's Freddie Quell.
Inherent Vice (2014) and Jonny Greenwood - a film that grew from rock bottom to mountain high (?) for me. I was very disappointed when I first watched it but I've watched in the cinema in the since and absolutely loved it. I don't know any other film that has done that to me. I was wrong about it. I think it was because I read the book before watching it and then gave myself time between first and second viewing to help forget exact thoughts on both formats. I remember the book being very funny. The film was too but with a heightened sense of paranoia; high in both senses of the word , cranked up AND on drugs.
I've included 2 videos for Inherent Vice, the first Chick Planet Massage scene is hilarious and we hear a Greenwood detective theme: soft electric guitar with a steady cymbal beat implying events are ongoing. The second, the oujia board scene, reflects the forensic problem-solving the Doc must go through itself almost like a paranoid drug-induced trance before he becomes distracted from the issue by memories of Shasta punctuated by Neil Young.
Overall I find Greenwood's contribution eerie and excitingly dangerous. Pitchfork said of Inherent Vice's sound: "It's exciting to hear Greenwood stretch into new styles, and "Adrian Prussia" is incredible, a crunching meeting point between digital static and strident violins."
I've included 2 videos for Inherent Vice, the first Chick Planet Massage scene is hilarious and we hear a Greenwood detective theme: soft electric guitar with a steady cymbal beat implying events are ongoing. The second, the oujia board scene, reflects the forensic problem-solving the Doc must go through itself almost like a paranoid drug-induced trance before he becomes distracted from the issue by memories of Shasta punctuated by Neil Young.
Overall I find Greenwood's contribution eerie and excitingly dangerous. Pitchfork said of Inherent Vice's sound: "It's exciting to hear Greenwood stretch into new styles, and "Adrian Prussia" is incredible, a crunching meeting point between digital static and strident violins."
Junun (2015) - Jonny Greenwood takes front stage here despite saying nothing and mostly being cloaked by his fringe. We see him co-create and collaborate as PTA documents it. What it presents is an East/West musical alliance trying to create something new. This for me will surely not be to everyone's taste but what it evidently shows is a solid mutual respect between musician and director where the scope for artistic creativity and format between the two is vast.
Long live PTA/Greenwood/Radiohead.
Long live PTA/Greenwood/Radiohead.
Now watch 'Daydreaming' again and see if you can hear Johnny Greenwood or see Paul Thomas Anderson.