Milan Records has released Cliff Marinez's The Company You Keep
12-Apr-2013 -
It was at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, where Cliff Martinez served as a juror, that he first met The Company You Keep’s director/star Robert Redford.
"I remember the first time I went up to Cliff's house,” said Redford. "I walked in and it's just filled with the most eclectic array of musical instruments - the whole place is a musician’s workshop with odd things I’d never seen before in all corners – his Cristal Baschet in the kitchen, the hallways lined with all sorts of drums…The space reflects Cliff.”
Based on the 2003 novel by Neil Gordon, The Company You Keep stars Robert Redford as Jim Grant, a civil rights lawyer and single father who must go on the run when a brash young reporter (Shia LaBeouf), exposes his true identity as a former 1970s radical fugitive wanted for murder. Sparking a nationwide manhunt, Grant sets off on a cross-country journey to clear his name. The ensemble cast features Susan Sarandon, Nick Nolte, Chris Cooper, Stanley Tucci, Terrence Howard, Julie Christie, Brit Marling and Anna Kendrick.
"The Company You Keep, like many of Robert Redford's films, felt like real life,” said Martinez “100% all-natural and authentic people in extraordinary circumstances. Nothing was overstated in the performances, editing or cinematography and that was the key to its story-telling power. The score had to be low-calorie and unobtrusive but always meaningful and serving a dramatic function. This is the type of film that I'm most at home with."
Perhaps it is because of his time in the punk scene playing for artists like Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Weirdos, The Dickies, Lydia Lunch and Foetus frontman Jim Thirlwell, and the final incarnation of Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band that composer Cliff Martinez’s approach to scoring is nontraditional. His scores tend towards being stark and sparse, utilizing a modern tonal palette to paint the backdrop for films that are often dark, psychological stories.
“There’s a bittersweet, rueful quality to the film,” said Redford. “I wanted the music to support the emotion from underneath – to be strong yet subtle, emotional yet restrained – Cliff does that instinctually and I think his work speaks for itself.”
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