NICK CAVE & WARREN ELLIS
La Panthère Des Neiges (Invada)
Since providing soundscapes for John Hillcoat’s fearsome Outback movie The Proposition in 2005, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis seem to have been engulfed with requests for their film and theatrical score projects. Their tally for such work currently runs into double figures, in addition to projects such as the Bad Seeds and Grinderman. Curious parties would do well to check out White Lunar, which compiles pre-2010s highlights from the duo’s haunting violin and piano-led screen and stage-related aural work. Now, many projects later we have Cave and Ellis’ score for 2021’s La Panthère Des Neiges, retitled The Velvet Queen in English.
Wildlife photographer Vincent Munier took novelist Sylvain Tesson to unexplored Tibetan territory to track and observe a rarely seen snow leopard. Deemed by Ellis to be one of the most beautiful films he and Cave have scored, accordingly their work is the duo’s most moving soundtrack to date. It deserves to resonate for many years to come, in much the same way as Ry Cooder’s music for Paris, Texas or even Vangelis’ Blade Runner.
words DAVID NOBAKHT