Spiritualized devotees will be ecstatic to hear that a new, and long overdue, album by the space-rock outfit is ready to go; the band (Pierce essentially) is just waiting for its label Universal to get their “shit together,” according to a blog post on the bands official website from mastermind J. Spaceman (née Jason Pierce).
Titled “Mister Lonely,” the surrealist and extremely odd-sounding film stars Diego Luna and Samantha Morton as Michael Jackson and Marilyn Monroe lookalikes living in some fantasy world that also stars magician David Blaine (Korine directed the illusionists 2003 documentary “Above The Below“), director Werner Herzog and something about falling nuns from the sky (it’s been a while, Korine’s last feature was 1999’s Julian Donkey Boy”). From Spaceman’s blog post:
“Also this year, Harmony Korine’s truly beautiful “Mister Lonely” film is released to cinema with an o.s.t. to follow on Drag City Records. It was an honour and trip to work on that one and probably one of the things that was most instrumental in me finally finishing the Spiritualized album so we all got Harmony to thank for that one. Go see his film.”
Sounds like Spaceman composed some original score, right? Why it’s not completely clear from his post, some digging around and we found the film’s press notes online (remember the film debuted at Cannes in 2007 and also played at the Toronto Film Festival) where Korine himself is a little more definitive and also revealed the participation of the Arizona experimental rockers Sun City Girls who also contributed some orignal compositions (The film’s music credits read: “Music By Jason Spaceman & The Sun City Girls).
“The music was a combination of score and source,” said Korine. “The Spaceman 3 [Pierce’s original band] are one of my all-time favorite bands so I asked Jason Spaceman to make some music for the film and he obliged. I had also been speaking to the Sun City Girls for several years about working together.. I have always loved the song “My Life.” There is something special about it.”
If you believe cobbled sources from different message boards (buyer beware…sorta), the soundtrack also features songs by Spank Rock, A Silver Mt. Zion, Sun City Girls, the Silver Jews, Aphex Twin (from Drukqs apparently) and the John Jacob Niles song “The Maid Freed From The Gallows.”
Sounds dubious? Not really. Korine is credited as “replicant engineer” on the Silver Jews album Tanglewood Numbers, released by Drag City in 2005 and of course Korine himself already mentioned the SC Girls which lends some credence to the overall posts; plus a scene below features some Spank Rock. Some basic googling essentially confirms Silver Mt. Zion and John Jacob Niles (the character Red Riding Hood apparently sings his 1965 folks song) as well (their songs below).
According to IFC.com, “Mister Lonely” is due April 30 (IFC FIlms is putting out the movie). The trailer features Bobby Vinton’s classic “Mister Lonely.” Late last year J.Spaceman performed dates on their “Acoustic Mainline” tour which featured acoustic gospel renditions of Spiritualized and Spacemen 3 classics. If they happened to play your city and you missed it (we caught their amazing New York Apollo show), you should probably just kill yourself now.
Whatever Happened To Baby Korine?
So whatever happened to Korine, right? Eight years is a long time between films. Well, basically he went off the rails. In a 2003 article with the New York Post ex-girlfriend Chloë Sevigny basically admitted the formerly straight-edge Korine had become a heroin junkie. “Slowly it all fell apart. He was much less productive. It just depleted him of so many things.” Earlier, around 1999, Korine tried to make “Fight Harm” with aforementioned buddy David Blaine, a film project that involved the scrawny little director engaging random people in actual street fights. Korine said he had hoped to make “a cross between a Buster Keaton vehicle and a snuff film,” but he was soon hospitalized by various beatdowns and the project was wisely abandoned. In 2002 he released the photobook “Pass the Bitch Chicken,” so he wasn’t exactly unproductive all those years (a few shorts were made too including an unfinished one with Gus Van Sant).
Korine’s always had one foot just outside the music scene too. He’s directed videos for Sonic Youth (“Sunday“), Cat Power (“Living Proof“) and Will Oldham (“No More Workhouse Blues“). He also sang on Oldham’s Ease Down The Road and contributed lyrics to Björk’s “Harm of Will” from the album Vespertine (2001).
Download: John Jacob Niles – “The Maid Freed From The Gallows”
Download: A Silver Mount Zion – “13 Angels Standing Guard ‘Round the Side of Your Bed”
Download: Spank Rock – “Backyard Betty”
Watch: “Mister Lonely” trailer
Watch/Listen: Spriritualized – “Ladies & Gentleman We Are Floating In Space”
Watch: Scene from “Mister Lonely” featuring Spank Rock