Chris Abrahams – The Tender Hook (Soundtrack)

The Tender Hook (Soundtrack) – Chris Abrahams

by Aidan Roberts

Chris Abrahams is an interesting fellow. The longstanding centrepiece of the art-jazz trio The Necks has forged a career and reputation as a unique experimental pianist and producer. This latest project is a film score for Michael Ogilvie’s second feature The Tender Hook, starring Hugo Weaving and Rose Burne. To tell the musical tale of this noirish romance set in Sydney in the 1920’s, Abrahams has opted for a weird melding of piano textures and electronic noisescapes, projecting a very psychological and anachronistic sound-scape for this by-gone world, and it actually works rather well. Similarly to Decoder Ring’s score for Somersault, Abrahams’ music is infused with a uniquely Australian melancholy, shimmering with modal drones and contemplative piano cadences. There’s some dialogue scattered throughout which is interesting but unnecessary, and regrettable are two performances from the film by Hugo Weaving; crooning his way through cocktail-jazz versions of Leonard Cohen’s I’m Your Man and Bob Dylan’s Ballad of a Thin Man. A novel idea, but in execution it just seems a bit silly. But leaving aside the kinks, this is a solid, intriguing soundtrack. Great for a long train ride.

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