Albino Alligator
Written by Jeff Keibel
on Wed, 19 Feb 1997 19:27:35 -0500.
Out already in parts of the world, the soundtrack is in stores in Canada
on February 25th. The film is currently running in limited
engagements... Michael is co-nominated for a Grammy (with Nusrat Fateh
Ali Khan) for Night Song (on Real World) --- Good luck! Michael will be
in Toronto March 3rd through 5th for some a promo blitz -- keep your
ears to the ground.
Michael Brook
Michael Brook has established his presence in contemporary music by
means both numerous and varied. His credits as producer, engineer,
guitarist and collaborator have graced albums by some of the past
decade's most celebrated artists. As a solo performer, he has toured
the world performing compositions which are sleek, elegant, disturbing
and powerful. His technical aptitude has yielded inventions on the
order of the Infinite Guitar, a signature element within Michael's
sound. The unique complexion of this sound, born of love for Middle
Eastern and Indian musics, has attracted opportunities to score feature
films. The newest 4AD release by Michael Brook comprises his score for
Albino Alligator,
the much-anticipated directing debut of actor Kevin Spacey.
In Albino Alligator
Music supervisors throughout Hollywood have taken notice of the
atmospheric and dramatic qualities in Michael's work; tracks from his
albums Hybrid and Cobalt Blue have frequently been licensed for use in
film soundtracks. Kevin Spacey also recognized the cinematic potential
of these recordings, but for his directorial effort, Albino Alligator,
he commissioned Michael to provide an original score. Spacey's tale of
a hold-up gone wrong presented many challenges that even a seasoned film
composer might have found daunting -- much of the character-driven
thriller takes place in one room -- but Michael was successful in
creating the disquieting music appropriate to the film's portrayal of
raw nerves and bungled plans. After completing the cues requested by
the director (Michael is quick to cite the guidance and inspiration
afforded by Spacey during the recording process), he returned to the
tracks with the intention of adding to them, creating slightly more
substantial 'record-like' versions for the 4AD release. The resulting
collection veers from swampy, blues rock to modal keyboard ostinatos a
la Phillip Glass. Multiple woodwinds (sax and Persian nez flute) and
manic percussion underscore the palpable tensions depicted in the film.
Rather than a typical score album, which leaves a listener feeling that
something is missing at the core of the enterprise, Albino Alligator --
as musically augmented for CD -- showcases both this unusual film and
the work of Michael Brook in the best possible light.
In The First Place
Michael was born and raised in Toronto, where he played guitar in
several local bands. During late '70s music studies at Toronto's York
University, his abilities were recognised by his visiting instructor,
the composer and trumpeter Jon Hassell. Michael helped in the recording
of Hassell's Vernal Equinox album and went on to play guitar in
Hassell's concert ensemble through the early '80s.
In Character
His grounding as a teenage guitarist in blues-rock bands gave little
clue to the direction that Michael would take as a solo artist. He
studied with avant-minimalist LaMonte Young and the Hindustani classical
violinist Pandit Pran Nath, which helped Michael to determine a
non-orientalist means to employ the lessons learned from world music.
On his 1985 debut album, Hybrid, Michael grafted Indian and Arabic
melodies into an ambient framework, introducing the singular colours of
his invention, the Infinite Guitar. The rhythmic component in his music
has gained prominence in recent years, but Michael still hews to the
basic conceptual template from which he fashioned his first collection
and its sequel, 1992's Cobalt Blue. In part, the admixture of ethnic
and electronic elements which characterises his work grew out of musical
experimentation in the company of Brian Eno and producer Daniel Lanois,
both of who have guested on Michael's two studio albums. On his sonic
palate, playing a bluesier finger-picking guitar that hearkens back to
his beginnings in Toronto bands. New timbres, in the form of saxophone,
Persian nez flute and string bass, appear in the mix as well. The real
surprise on the soundtrack, the representation of Michael's biggest
stretch as a co-arranger and co-producer (in this instance, with Flea
from Red Hot Chili Peppers), is the end-song; a slow motion treatment of
Koehler & Arlen's jazz standard "Ill Wind" which features a duet between
R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe and Jimmy Scott, in a setting that suggests Otis
Redding singing for David Lynch.
In The Studio
Concurrent to his development as an artist, Michael Brook has become a
producer in demand during the past ten years. The ease with which
Michael functions on either side of the mixing console, as artist or
producer, owes much of his extraordinary technical aptitude, and his
ability to reconcile art and technology. While he was administering the
A Space video lab in Toronto during the late '70s and early '80s,
Michael constructed a home studio. The basement facility was
affectionately known as 'The Crypt', and it was here that he honed his
engineering chops, producing local artists while developing his own
vocabulary as a guitarist and composer. The Infinite Guitar, whose
flute-like timbre and limitless sustaining tones have become Michael's
sonic logo, was invented in this subterranean workroom. To date, there
are but three Infinite Guitars in existence, with Daniel Lanois and U2
guitarist The Edge owning the others. He eventually surfaced to
engineer at Daniel Lanois' Grant Avenue Studio in Hamilton in the early
'80s.
The numerous projects which Michael has helmed in this decade for Peter
Gabriel's Real World label have done much to enhance his reputation as
one of today's preeminent world music producers. Michael has produced
four critically acclaimed albums for Pakistan's most famous qawwali
singer, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Other Real World projects to benefit
from Michael's involvement include albums for Indian mandolinist U.
Srinivas and more recently the Sardinian vocal quartet Tenores di
Bitti. Additional production credits accumulated through the '80s and
early '90s include albums for Roger Eno, Laraaji, the UK pop group
Balloon, The Pogues, fellow Canadian Mary Margaret O'Hara's Miss America
album, and Set by Senegal's Youssou N'Dour, the latter taking Michael to
Senegal for pre-production, with tracking and mixing done in Brussels.
Through much of 1996, Michael has been involved in the production of
singer-songwriter Julia Fordham's fourth album for Virgin Records.
Aside form his musical endeavours, Michael provided technical assistance
in the design and installation of Brian Eno's video environments, as
featured in art galleries around the world during the late '80s.
In Concert
Michael toured during the mid '80s as a guitarist with Martha & The
Muffins. The Toronto-based group scored a substantial chart hit in the
U.K. with their single "Echo Beach", triggering a demand for live
appearances overseas. Michael, whose musical versatility was the stuff
of common knowledge in Toronto, was the obvious first choice for tour
support. He then moved to England and became part of the now-legendary
Opal Evenings concert package, alongside Roger Eno, Laraaji and the
California pianist Harold Budd; Opal Evenings were staged in locations
ranging from concert halls to formal gardens in Rome, to a volcanic
grotto on the island of Lanzarote. It was during these concerts that
Michael perfected his solo presentation, having reconfigured his home
studio to provide much of his musical backing onstage, with James Pinker
handling percussion on many tour dates.
In the late '80s, Michael accompanied the famously concert-shy Brian Eno
during a rare performance staged for the dedication of a Japanese Shinto
temple. Sufficiently comfortable with live work by the '90s, Michael
toured both as a solo attraction and as an opening act in support of
John Cale and Sylvian/Fripp. (During the latter's global tour, Michael
would also become a third guitarist in the headlining band after
finishing his solo set.) He has also performed one-off dates with
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, extending their cultural cross-pollination to the
concert stage.
In Collaboration
His contributions to an album he was producing for 4AD artist Pieter
Nooten (of Xymox) were sufficient to have label head Ivo Watts-Russell
declare the project a duet, marking Michael's first official
collaboration and his first appearance on 4AD. In the past few years,
others among his production clients have become collaborators, most
notably Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. The two albums which they recorded,
Musst Musst and the recent Night Song, generated degrees of controversy
when each was released, but are now praised for their successful merging
of eastern and western musical influences. Production work for U.
Srinivas, the Indian mandolinist, on a Real World release of Carnatic
classical music sparked another fruitful musical partnership resulting
In an 'ethno-ambient' album entitled Dream. For this project, Michael
created a digital collage from samples of Srinivas' mandolin and a cast
of international musicians, configuring their 'virtual' performances
into moire patterns of sound. Another unusual ambient release by
virtual artist Russell Mills, entitled Undark, has just been released by
England's Time Recordings: the album features infinite guitar and
co-writing by Michael.
In The Cinema
In 1986, Michael Brook collaborated with The Edge, guitarist for U2, on
the soundtrack to the film Captive. The film and its accompanying
soundtrack album (on Virgin) introduced the voice of Sinead O'Connor to
the world at large. Later, in 1994, Michael composed and performed the
score for the IMAX documentary, Fires Of Kuwait. A vision of hell on
Earth, the film provided a stark canvas for which the Arabic inflections
of Michael's Infinite Guitar were perfectly suited. Last year, tracks
licensed from his 1992 Cobalt Blue album were mixed with cues specially
written and performed by Michael for the soundtrack of Michael Mann's
drama, Heat. His current scoring project, Albino Alligator, functions
as a summation of Michael's artistic progress to date, while opening the
door to new possibilities.
Albino Alligator, available on vinyl CAD7003 and compact disc CAD7003CD
from 4AD. Distributed in Canada by Mercury/Polydor and in the US by
Warner Bros. Thank you Gerry at Mercury!
Jeff Keibel
Scarborough, Ontario
CANADA
