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Album Review

Ralfe Band
Bunny and the Bull Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Ghost Ship Records

Article written by Ged M - Jan 24, 2010

Ralfe Band: Bunny and the Bull Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

A film soundtrack is made to accompany a visual image – that’s a no-brainer. But if you’re reviewing a soundtrack after seeing the film, are you responding to the images that come with the music? I avoided this paradox by not watching the film first, which works in this case because Oli Ralfe and gang wrote the songs to have a life of their own – which they have.

The film, by Mighty Boosh director Paul King, is described as “a story of love, disillusionment, stuffed bears and globalised seafood”. It’s a work of imagination, mirrored in the music, which ranges from Satie-like piano meditations to picaresque accordion-led European folk. Themes repeat, getting more exotic with each iteration; ‘Atlantis Rising’ is pretty good in this regard. Though mostly instrumental, the few songs work well in their own right: the literally atmospheric ‘Snow Song’ (where they left a piano outside in a blizzard to get the right "weathered" sound) and the country flourishes of ‘Fiesta Song’.

Regardless of whether they’re associated with the images in the film, these sounds generate splashes of vivid imagery inside the listener’s head - a reminder that the songs on Ralfe Band's first two albums were marked by a cinematic and dramatic nature. 'Bunny and the Bull' works both as music and as film music, with a flair for the latter that makes further film work likely. A bit of a two-for-one triumph, then. Now to see the film…

Links:
http://www.ralfeband.com
http://www.bunnyandthebull.com
http://www.myspace.com/ralfeband