WILL OLDHAM - SEAFARERS MUSIC E.P. 2004 RELEASE

Seafarers was a documentary made by Jason Massot which “followed four different merchant-marine guys from four different countries who were all in the port of Rotterdam … one of the biggest commercial seaports in the world” (Oldham). These men, a Swede, a Croat, a Polynesian and a Nigerian, are all waiting to return to the sea. Of this soundtrack Timeout magazine says Oldham’s “ambient acoustic score giv[es] a melancholy music to the echoing halls and empty reaches of the docks and ‘placeless’ industrial zones” seen in the footage. The reason the music is so similar to that heard on Ode Music is because Massot wanted to use Ode Music, but Oldham refused, saying that he would record something new. Hence we get Seafarers Music, four more tracks of pleasant acoustic arpeggios and rhythms rolling around. One could safely assume that the song titles are named after the four men that the doco focuses on. So, what we have are four extended miniatures…