EL ÚLTIMO FIN DE SEMANA (OST)

Special side-project of Anekdoten guitarist Nicklas Barker; he's here witing and perfoming a soundtrack for Spanish director Norberto Ramos. Although not yet a household name in the Hispanic peninsula's film industry, Ramos has done a few movies, of which Ultimo Fin De Semana ranks as one of his most remarkable. Our Last Week End Together (the English title) is a thriller about four women fleeing everyday's pressure for one week-end on the country's north coast. Despite the limited budget, the movie is well-worth seeing; although I gather that most Hollywood-accustomed movie freak will probably only moderately appreciate it.

Getting back to the (instrumental) music, Barker plays almost everything himself, but then again, a large part of it is the Mellotron (a forefront feature of his band's soundscapes) or apparently Tron-simulating synths. Musically this soundtrack is somewhat similar to Anekdoten's other side-project of a few years ago called Symphonic Holocaust, which was a fantasy project of soundtrack to imaginary Italian horror movies. The main difference I will point out between the two affairs is that Holocaust was four musicians making a full symphonic raucous, while Semana is much more intimate solo affair. As I said above, Barker plays almost everything on the album, but he's still joined by Anekdoten buddy and drummer Nordins and family members (wives or sisters most likely) of Nicklas and Doten bassist Bergstrom, for additional strings. As for Nicklas, he's playing the Trons, synths,bass and a Theremin. Obviously the Trons is the music's main ingredient and its melancholic layers provide plenty of tension and sentimental and scary moods (at least when watching the movie)., but in the end, one can't escape its beauty. Most of the music beongs to the rock realm, though a few moments (like the closing track) may sound a bit like village-fair stuff, which distracts a bit the cohesion of it all.

Although the soundtrack's music is already plenty poignant enough, you'll easily understand that it gains even more to have seen the movie to appreciate the context of the music. Furthermore, the movie includes an extra-track, one Anekdoten track (from their Gravity album), but that didn't find space on this CD, most likely for contractual reasons. The DVD of the movie also features a Barker interview and a studio video of the soundtrack's most vibrant track. Although the album is very worthy, you might want to directly order the movie, which seels for cheaper if you order it directly from the director himself via his website.

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