Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Still Floating In Space It was the soundtrack to Drive that made the world truly wake up to Cliff Martinez, while his score to Solaris in 2002 – perhaps his greatest work to date – went unnoticed by the masses. As it’s lovingly rereleased this month on limited vinyl, Reef Younis talks with the composer about that minimal masterpiece, the power of music in film and ignoring the money, unless it really is a lot p h o to g r a p h e r - Ric a r d o De Ar a t a n h a
Most of us are fans of Cliff Martinez, we just didn’t realise it. A former Captain Beefheart and Red Hot Chilli Peppers drummer, and composer of rapidly increasing mainstream repute, Cliff ’s compositions have spanned 25 years across films such as Sex, Lies and Videotape, NARC, Traffic, Solaris, Drive, Spring Breakers and Only God Forgives. Drive, as he himself admits, marked a tipping point; the moment the man behind the music became almost as prominent as the directors and actors hitting the headlines. But it’s not Drive and its Gosling-fuelled frenzy we’re here to talk about; it’s the ambient masterpiece, Solaris. Over a decade on from the original film and soundtrack release, the music is being given a loving, vinyl second life courtesy of Invada Records — the label run by resident Spotify hater and Portishead honcho, Geoff Barrow. Indulgently pressed in three different, limited edition vinyl versions, it’s a resurrection that has collectors on edge as we hurtle towards the end of the year. See, where Steven Soderbergh’s cinematic take on Stanislaw Lem’s 1961 novel split opinion, the appreciation for the deep, cerebral score that complemented it so perfectly has endured. Characterised by the darkside of baritone steel drums and the natural warmth of orchestral ambience, in hindsight, Solaris should have been the score to raise Cliff ’s profile to a new level. That he’s had to wait a decade could have made him a little bitter; instead the growing, belated acclaim continues to come as a welcome surprise. Reef Younis: It’s been over ten years since the original film and soundtrack; do you know what instigated the re-release? How involved were you with the process? Cliff Martinez: I didn’t instigate the idea of re-releasing it but I’m glad somebody did.They stepped forward and volunteered to re-release it, which I embraced enthusiastically. That was the extent of my involvement, but I better get a copy [laughs]. RY: The steel drums are a big influence on the score and you seemed to find this dark side that’s the polar opposite to upbeat calypso rhythms.What made you even consider
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using steel drums in that context? CM: Sometimes you’re influenced by the film or input from the director but there were two things that influenced the overall sound. One was the orchestra playing these slow moving, layered canons as harmonics and that came about because Steven [Soderbergh] used temporary music to cut the film to and I really fell in love with a piece called ‘Lontano’ by György Ligeti. That was kind of a role model reference that I thought was a beautiful example of ambient music played by an orchestra. In the meantime, I’d always just had a fascination with steel drums and it peaked around the same time I was working on Solaris. I’d had too much Tequila to drink, I had a credit card in my hand, and I hit ‘buy now with one click’ for a company in Trinidad that made steel drums. A couple of days later the delivery service showed up with these huge wooden crates that had to be opened up with crowbars and hammers, and inside were the baritone steel drums. I was just determined to shoe horn that sound into the film somehow, and it took a fair amount of exploration to make it work, but at that time, the baritone steel drums were just the coolest instrument I’d ever heard. The whole idea of Ligeti’s was deliberately designed to avoid any sense of rhythm, so I was looking to subvert that formula. Oddly, when you have this bottom layer that’s completely free-floating and beatless, you can superimpose a rhythm over it very easily. It’s an interesting paradigm of ideas because if you steal one idea from one artist, that’s considered plagiarism, but if you take two different ideas and put them together you come up with something original. So calypso music and
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the ambient orchestral music of Legetti: put them together, shake them up and you end up with something unique. RY: I can vividly remember watching the Volkswagen ‘Night Drive’ advert with ‘Don’t Blow It’ playing in the background as Richard Burton read an excerpt from Dylan Thomas’ ‘Under Milk Wood’. It was a bit of a perfect storm for me… CM: Yes! I remember that ad, what a surprise! There was also a Nike ad with Lebron that used ‘Don’t Blow It’ too so that track’s had a second life. You write this stuff in such complete isolation with a short feedback loop between you and your director, and the Solaris soundtrack seems to have had a life of its own, certainly in a few commercials. I do get beaten over the head with it in temp scores with other films [laughs]. I’m amazed at how versatile it was because it was designed with a very specific purpose as it was written for an esoteric, existential remake of a Russian science fiction art film.To see it in a Volkswagen commercial or a tennis shoe commercial, and a few other places, is a pleasant surprise. I guess it shows how universal music is, and how it speaks to a listener in one way. I thought it was strictly sci-fi music but clearly people appreciate it in a different way. RY: You say you’re surprised by its broader appeal but have you ever heard your music in a context where it hasn’t felt right? CM: I haven’t heard Solaris in a context that felt like it was incorrect to me but I’ve heard a lot of my other music, like music from Drive, that’s been used in rough cuts of other films. I guess I’ve got such a big head about my own music I just think “that’s great”. I’m very easily impressed with myself [laughs]. The other day I saw a film where they had used music from Spring Breakers in a very, very graphic, erotic homosexual love scene with five men [cracks up laughing] and I looked at it and I went,“I didn’t think of that.” But I’ve got to hand it to them, it worked beautifully, it’s perfect, so I guess I’m the go-to guy for music that’s 80s and gay [laughs again]. RY: You mentioned the isolation which must make