This is is one of my favourite films of all time and favourite soundtracks, by Paul Giovanni and Magnet, the band. It was very influential on lots of things musically and visually. The film itself and use of music is so revolutionary, I think. I don’t know of many films that just break for music like that – The Graduate does it a bit – but it is almost like a musical in the way it does it. People singing songs, not to the camera so much, but there is even a bit of that.
There is such a strange hybrid of styles on it. But it completely works. You couldn’t copy it. Paul Giovanni worked on theatre shows but the music in The Wicker Man is sinister folk tunes, adapted poetry of Robbie Burns, seemingly original folk ballads that are not. He got into that world of paganistic, pre-Christian, sexually quite extreme, pretty madrigals and folk tunes and imagery going on. There is nothing wrong with that soundtrack. I watched The Wicker Man a lot.
I feel a bit hacky choosing soundtracks. I feel like the purist in me is not exploring the roots properly, that it is a superficial journeyman way in, but I have discovered so much music through soundtracks. I think I first discovered Tom Waits through one of Jim Jarmusch’s early films, Down By Law. Another one, Broken Flowers with Bill Murray, had an Ethiopique soundtrack. So it is a great way of finding new music.
