Though the film is not a likely candidate for movie of the year, the soundtrack to The Center of the World offers a perfect mix of sensuality, exotics and grooves.
To illustrate the eroticism of Wayne Wang's film, San Francisco label Six Degrees Records turned to warmer lands to create a film score which combines, beyond the genres, sounds from around the world.
Laika's "Black Cat Bone" is an enchanting spoken word piece backed with light beats. While DJ Cam's "Millenium" resembles a Moby interlude a bit too much, Robbie Robertson's "Rattlebone" is a spirited song involving American Indian tribal hymns.
On the sensual "Daylight Tripping", Nicky Love sounds like Dot Allison's distant cousin, while Euphoria's languorous guitars on "Is This Heaven" are reminiscent of Mazzy Star. "Kese Kese", remixed by Transglobal Underground, juxtaposes raï with Indian psychedelic. Ekova's "Temoine" is an invitation to travel brought on by a female chorus.
Succeeding the banal "Sheer Weight of Memory", the unstoppable Bebel Gilberto brings freshness and charm with "Alguém". A logical follow-up, Suba's famous "Tantos Desejos" carries in his strange cocktail of electronica and Brazilian influences. The incantations of the ambient "Currents" hypnotize slowly but surely.
The album curiously concludes with Joe Henry's "Mean Flower", background music for bars that spoils the whole ambiance.
A sweet voyage into the musical center of the world, if there is one.
