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"Wealth of Delight in 'Nowhere'"
The Missoulian, February 13, 2003
by Erica Parfit
There is an unusual sound around this week - the noise made when a group of people makes a documentary about another group of people who travel around America in RVs, camping out in the natural world of Wal Mart. The documentary is This is Nowhere and this is the soundtrack.
It is intriguing to review a soundtrack without having seen the movie, which may be the best way to do it. There won't be fragments of scenes flashing before my eyes as I hear a certain poignant note or rhythm. I'll hear the scenes as I go, while the music tells its tale.
The story begins with a traveling electric guitar rhythm, the heated sound of eight wheels flying over pavement. Then as the first track, "Nowheresville," begins its full grove, a muted trumpet slides in with a jazzy flair, and a voice suggestive of Tom Waits begins an eerie tale of "another day in Nowheresville."
Next comes the "Big Surprise." An electric keyboard keeps the rhythm with two steady notes, while an ampedout voice, like the scary voice in a horror flick just before a big bloodshed, tells us we are "in for a Big Surprise." Then, in "Aurora Borealice," an interview of a couple on the road telling us how they won't go anywhere that doesn't have a Wal-Mart.
Giving us a sense of another side of life is "Charlemagne Kid." A gruff masculine voice reminisces on a past meeting with a girl from Berkeley with long red hair and a nose ring, wearing motorcycle boots. He wonders if she will turn into a suburban mom and if she will remember the conversation.
"Sunrise Over Nowhere" rides in as a mellow electric guitar solo ooo's and wahwah's in a Mark Knopfler- "Local Hero" style. Then a nice lady talks about how she loves the "Beautiful Countryside." Then more commentary from the gruff masculine voice about a "Black Dress and the Invisible Man," while a saxophone and guitar coo easily along with the words.
Then comes "Montana." Dissonance greets this meeting, and the sound shifts to a dark, technological underworld tone, which throbs along in itself, preparing for the "Grand Opening." As that begins, voices lift in a chorus, then a musical interlude of wailing keyboard moves in. The masses begin to clap and cheer together for W-A-L-M-A-R-T, while the keyboard cries on in the background, like a solitary tree on a barren hill.
This is only the first half of an intriguing story. To tell the whole story could take days. This is Nowhere is a wealth of delight for the imaginative mind. Composer Ned Mudd is good: Not only are the sounds full of detail in a storytelling sense, but they have a purely musical value as well.
The music combines avant-garde jazz with spoken word, and experimental rock and roll. The jazz is played by top-notch musicians. The words are written with just the right language, making it understandable yet humanly poetic, and the experimental rock and roll is wild and raw, yet confined and skillful. These are the qualities in music that make it speak. I hope the documentary is as first rate as the soundtrack.
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