Friday, May 4, 2012

DISTORTED SHADOWS: Neil Young Journeys- a film by Jonathan Demme

The third film in a trilogy, directed with dark beauty by noted film maker Jonathan Demme, Neil Young's Journeys is a loud, atmospheric cauldron of muted distortion, amplified and accented by Young's passionate persona. Unlike the golden tones of 2006's Heart Of Gold, or the plain, direct framing of thier second collaboration, 2009's Trunk Show, Journeys displays a much starker, heavier tone- a solemn reverie of time and place. Young's guitar may contain it's nastiest tone here, the over all sound thuds and scrapes and wails, filling up Toronto's Massey Hall (and the theater) entirely. In between the sonic bloodletting, Young takes us on a small tour through his hometown of Omemee, Ontario- the place from which many of his earliest songs grew. It is the "town in North Ontario" he sings about in 1970's Helpless. It is a beautiful, quiet place. A sleepy town. Young, his brother Bob in tow, details the landscape from which he sprang- the backwoods brush he would camp out in, to be near his chickens; the school named after his father- a famous Canadian writer, and the hall where his father performed as the only white man in a minstrel show. A black and white photo of little Neil, in full cowboy gear, appears. One of Young's funniest childhood tales is when he was convinced by another boy that eating tar off the road was a good thing, that it eventually turns into chocolate.
The music contained within is amazing in how Young has captured his essence as an artist and emotional being after 40 some odd years of doing this. Young's ability in fully possessing the moment, sans knee jerk professionalism, is a great tale to tell. With just Neil and his tricked out electric guitar- both hollow and solid body- he proceeds to pour his soul into the songs, attending to all that have made classics such as "Ohio'" "Hey Hey (My My)," and "After The Goldrush" soar, yet funneling them through an updated approach that stays in the moment, simultaneously creating a new vibe for future listeners to have and to hold. The newer material, much of it holding weight against the more familiar, is apocalyptic in tone, spiritual in execution, earthy in delivery. A song like "Peaceful Valley Boulevard" is as incendiary as a known entity such as "Down By The River," even when the feel comes on much more subtle. In Journeys, Young proves he still has a musical curiosity that can draw you inwards- into his darkest shadows, into the heart of his very best expressions.

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