After “Suspiria” by Guadagnino – who opted for the award-winning Ross-Reznor company for “Challengers” – Thom Yorke returns to accompany with his notes an Italian film: “Confidenza” by Daniele Lucchetti, recently released in Italian cinemas. It is not the first time that the Italian director turns to the notes of the Radiohead leader: for “Codice Carla”, a documentary on Carla Fracci, Luchetti had used passages from Atoms for Peace. For the new film, again based on Domenico Starnone's novels, the director can count on the original compositions of the British musician.
The setting remains classic: piano, the strings of the London Contemporary Orchestra. And something sinister, compared to the less ghostly and more restless “Suspiria”, remains here too. Just listen to the opening “The Big City”. To embellish the work, the jazz nuances (which will remind some of some glimpses of “Amnesiac”), in which Yorke is accompanied by his Smile battle buddy, Tom Skinner. A further connection with the trio is the presence of Sam Petts-Davies, producer of “Wall Of Eyes” (and the previous score for Guadagnino).
The pearl of this soundtrack is “Knife Edge”, a song where Yorke, between the delicate strokes of the piano, on a carpet of strings, engages in a performance vocal worthy of his best repertoire. The other sung moment, “Four Ways In Time”, is on the same level.
After three short fragments – “Letting Down Gently”, “Secret Clarinet” and the anguished “In The Trees” – here is one of the most moving and jazzy: “Prize Giving.” To close the work intent on accompanying, as one could not do better, the troubled moments of Professor Vella's life, the mood frenetic and crescendo of “On The Edge”.
05/09/2024
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM