John Zorn — The Last Supper: Filmworks XXII
The tracks go from the rich melodic strains of Somnambulisme with it’s golden layers of complex female harmonising. To the ritual & heated voodoo like percussive dance of the track Spiral, which as it progresses adds in loud whispers, gasps and various shifting choirs of strange vocal sound. On to the sensual and strange Time travel which mixers slowed ritual gong hits with simple and primal clip clop percussion and eerier night bird calls from one of the singers. The rising and brooding harmonising, and low thundering percussion of Blood ritual, which feels like watching a blood red sun come-up over the remains of a winding down gory and sexualized ritual.
Unlike a lot of soundtracking work ,Zorn’s included, The Last Supper easily stands up in it’s own right as a entraining and atmospheric stand alone work. Sure themes are repeated to are certain extent, but never to the point were they lose their effectiveness & Zorn keeps shifting the albums tone and sonic inclination as it goes along. Zorn talks in the liner notes about extending this piece into a dance performance, theatre piece or opera and there is certainly the scope here.
Tzadik and Zorn have also offered up an impressive and plush packaging for the disk too with a full colour card slip case with inside a 50 page art booklet full of puzzling, disturbing and semi erotic stills from the film. Truly this is one of the highlights of Zorn’s lengthy work with-in the film soundtrack form, as well as one of the general highlights of his huge body of work.