If music and sport have any cross-over, it tends not to show either in its best light. From terrace anthems to images of England players rapping on World Cup singles, there are few instances where the marriage seems harmonious.
But look a little deeper, and you will find exceptions. In an age where visual media has expanded out of all proportion thanks to streaming, youtube and the sheer amount of film and TV being made for our consumption, everything from documentaries to film end credits, TV box set incidental music, adverts and stings and especially video games, are all demanding quality music to enhance the experience.
Which is why I want to highlight this gorgeous suite of music. The View From Above is music that was used in a documentary about Pontefract Squash Club, and if the names of the creators seem familiar, Joe and Jon are, respectively, musicians and producers with The Blood Choir. Known for an eclectic and exciting blend of expansive riffs and gentle ambience, noise-pop and beautiful restraint, post-rock adventure and understated experimentation, this album turns its sights to those quieter ends of the spectrum as you might expect from music designed to fit behind, between and around spoken word audio and more direct documentary footage.
And, even if you have no interest in squash, it is music that you should still check out, beguiling coils of drifting delicacy and floating, fleeting sounds occasionally punctuated by more pressing and poised highlights. How could you not find that intriguing and perhaps the perfect antidote to the pace and noise-pollution of the world around us.
It is an album that also says so much about the place of the modern music maker and reminds us that traditional live gig performances are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to where music is found. It is, now more than ever before, all around us. Composers and performers, such as Joe and Jon, as likely to be making soundtracks for films and documentaries, adverts and incidental sounds, as they are striding the boards in traditional performance mode.
I won’t dwell on the music; that isn’t a cop out (well, it is a bit) but this is the sort of album that is best explored with an open mind and experienced in the moment. Still, I will say that fans of filmic ambience, 4AD record label, cinematic soundscaping, and music which achieves poignancy through atmosphere and anticipation rather than a more heavy-handed approach will fall in love with the music. I know I did.
