RECORD COLLECTOR
(UK)
NOVEMBER 2001

Son De Mar
(Music From The Film
by Bigas Luna)
4AD
MAD 2105 CD (37:42)

Joe McIver

Part of this collection of six, calm, drone-like pieces has already appeared on the Bliss Out compilation (Darla, 1997) and it's easy to understand why. The Piano Magic group focus on keyboard washes, bell-like percussion and ethereal, delayed guitar lines, all at super-slow pace and accompanied by various ambient sounds, including the sea-shore, after which this album is named - quite beautiful, and worth savouring at leisure.
Bigas Luna, the Spanish director responsible for Jamon Jamon and other observant, allegorical films, is known for his films' fine balance of on-screen and auditory events, so his choice of this unintrusive, persuasive music as a film soundtrack makes absolute sense : it remains one of the key film collections of the year.