The first Tel Aviv Soundtrack Festival, which will be held at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque between November 15-19, is fast approaching. But even before it starts, we bring you an appetizer, a special event that will get you in the mood. And in this case, “atmosphere” is a very appropriate word. On November 3, we will meet on the stage of the Cinematheque an old-fashioned cinematic masterpiece with a live soundtrack of a favorite American alternative rock band: Mercury Rav are going to musically accompany a screening of “Carnival of Souls”, a low-budget film from 1962 that every horror movie fan knows is Not only a crazy cult, but also one of the best and most influential horror films of all time. “Carnival of Souls”, starring Candace Hilligos, tells the story of a young and beautiful girl who is injured in a car accident, leaves everything and starts over as an organist in a country church.
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“Carnival of Souls” was directed, written and produced by Herc Harvey, which is the only film he ever made. The commercial failure of his film so crippled his hands that he never made another film, but in the 60 years since it first came out, this atmospheric film, every stroke of which is an aestheticization of our anxious psyche, has gained growing appreciation and a resounding cult status. It’s not just that Mercury Rav chose him. And in addition, we chose for them a short Israeli film, from that period, for which they will also improvise a live soundtrack on stage: “Exercise in Simple Symbols” by Uri Zohar.
Mercury Rav know the world of soundtracks intimately: they composed the music for the movie “Bye Bye Blackbird” and their songs have appeared in quite a few other movies over the years. The veteran band has been bringing a new kind of expressiveness to the world of alternative rock since they formed in Buffalo, New York, in the 1980s. Today they are a duo – Jonathan Donahue (vocals and guitars) and Shawn McViak known as “Grasshofer” (guitars, clarinet) – and in Israel they will improvise their soundtrack for the “Carnival of Souls” together with three Israeli musicians: Avi Belali (bass), Elad Cohen Bonan (percussion) and Galia Chai (viola). As artistic director of the festival (along with Yeshiv Cohen) I caught up with Grasshofer to talk about the film, and about music and cinema.
Of all the movies in the world, why did you choose to make a soundtrack specifically for “Carnival of Souls”?
“The film uses photography in a surreal way to convey anxiety, discomfort and a paranoid atmosphere. Everything is wrapped in a surrealism that is like out of this world. Many directors have been influenced by it, including David Lynch. In other words – excellent material.”
I tell Grasshofer that several people have asked me if it is possible to come to the show even if you have never seen the film before. “Definitely yes,” he says. “I believe the audience can follow the narrative visually. The music we add to the film adds another layer of sensory surrealism. The relationship between the film and the music is very important to us. It’s an exciting experience for both the ears and the eyes.”
One of the interesting things about this event is the connection between a cult film from the early 60’s and contemporary music. “Although ‘Carnival of Souls’ is a film from the sixties, there is something transcendental about it,” says Grasshofer. “A kind of ominous feeling or eternal uneasiness. Our music has that same quality of transtemporality, although it’s not always ominous. Our music takes you out of time. So I don’t think our music changes the way the audience perceives The film in no way. She only emphasizes the qualities of the film.”
How much of the live soundtrack you play for “Carnival of Souls” is improvisation and how much is pre-written?
“We have already done this performance several times in different parts of the world. There are certain motifs that we return to each time, but within this structure we improvise and change certain parts. When we screen the film in different parts of the world we always include local musicians. We set the scale and the rhythm But every performance is something else.”
You are a guest at the Soundtrack Festival, which is entirely dedicated to film music. So I have to ask: What is your favorite musical movie of all time?
“Our favorite musical movie is the original ‘Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’, and we love a lot of soundtrack composers like Ennio Morricone, Nino Ruta, René Claureck, Angelo Badalamenti, and many others.”
The Soundtrack Festival (the website can be found here) will take place between 11.15 and 19.11, and the “Carnival of Souls – Live Soundtrack by Mercury Rav” event is a warm-up event for which it will take place on 11.3, details and tickets here. Also, Mercury Rav will perform two acoustic performances at the piano festival, Wednesday (2.11) 20:00 and 22:30, NIS 239 (tickets for the early performance are sold out)