J Spaceman & John Coxton
Music for William Eggleston's Stranded In Canton
(Fat Possum)
Nine years ago, long time collaborators Spiritualized's J Spaceman and John Coxon were invited to perform some music live to a screening of photographer William Eggleston's 1974 art film 'Stranded in Canton', a raw and intimate portrait of Memphis in the 1970s, by artist Doug Aitken as part of his Station To Station arts festival at the Barbican, London. J Spacemen hated the idea of simply jamming along to the movie as others had done for similar projects and wanted to do something more structured, but retaining improvised elements, so brought in Spiritualized guitarist Tony 'Doggen' Foster, and percussionist Rupert Clervaux to help, the results of which are captured on this album, comprised of recordings from that night. The jagged, cajun tinged nature of the recordings, set against the dialogue, elevate the films concept far beyond that of the Director, which was to film Egglestones Memphis friends chatting, messing around, arguing and firing pistols in the desert. From what I have seen of the film itself, it is as you would expect from an art house film of that era; black and white, documentary-ish, meandering and ultimately inconclusive, but with a raw edge that is unsettling. The soundtrack is all of that and much more, conjuring up evocative images with languid, loose, echoey guitars picking their way around snatches of dialogue. This reminds me very much of film Director Jim Jarmush's guitar and multiple FX pedal act SQÜRL. It’s a heady mix, weaving and writhing anaconda-like through swamps of feedback and shimmering reverb, each track merging into the next. The interaction between the music and dialogue is so skilfully executed, the actors almost appear to be singing at times. It is the perfect vehicle for Spaceman and Spiritualized, containing all the elements of slightly scary and out there, deep south blues Americana that inspired him in the first place. I will be honest, I could quite happily listen over and over again to this, whereas I very much doubt I'd give the film itself a second screening. That places this album as art truly transcending art, and as a result it is quite, quite brilliant.
