Nick Cave has teamed up with The National’s Bryce Dessner to write a new song for the upcoming Netflix adaptation of ‘Train Dreams’. The track, which shares its title with the film, will play over the end credits and features alongside Dessner’s original score. Both musicians also serve as co-producers on the project, working alongside Luis Almau.
The ‘Train Dreams’ soundtrack is set for release on November 7, ahead of the film’s Netflix premiere on November 21. Adapted from Denis Johnson’s acclaimed novella, the film stars Joel Edgerton as Robert Grainier, a logger and railroad worker navigating a life of quiet profundity in the rapidly changing America of the early 20th century.
Director Clint Bentley spoke about the collaboration with Bad Seeds singer Nick Cave in a press release: “When we started thinking about making a song for the film, Nick felt like the perfect artist to do it. It turns out that Train Dreams is one of his all-time favourite books, but he initially feared there wouldn’t be time to do something because he was getting ready to go on tour. Then he watched the film and was inspired to write something and the whole thing came together really quickly.
He continued “There’s a deep poeticism alongside rock and roll. And that just felt like the perfect fit for a film like this that’s telling the story of this person who lived a beautiful resonant life, even if it did include heartache and pain”.
On hearing the song for the first time, Bentley said: “I was blown away. It surpassed anything I felt like it might be. It took all the feelings that I was trying to communicate at the end of the movie and expanded them into another place. I was so struck by how the song builds to the end when other voices start to drift in, as if on the wind. His lyrics are so evocative and there’s a deep mystery to the song, especially when thinking about Grainier’s story. Every time I listen to it, I’m more moved by it”.
‘Train Dream’s marks another addition to Cave’s growing list of film and television collaborations. Earlier this month, it was confirmed that he and long-time creative partner Warren Ellis will score the new TV adaptation of his 2009 novel ‘The Death of Bunny Munroe’. In case you missed it, MXDWN’s earlier coverage of this can be read here.
