Lorna Irvine finds moments of brilliance in both the film and the post-film performance.
Avant-folk trio Lau have a cinematic sweep to their music, so who better to provide the soundtrack for Ruth Paxton’s short film Nevada?
At just twenty-four minutes long, Paxton’s film was made in response to Lau’s most recent album and stars Louis Paxton and Kim Chapman. Set in a deserted factory, it is enigmatic and lyrical and examines the push and pull between men and women, colliding in an uneasy study of sensuality and implied physical violence. At times, it does resemble a Dazed And Confused fashion shoot, but the moody stills, attention to detail (light beams seeping through the windows after the couple lie together, exhausted after fighting, look ravishing) and finding the beauty in dilapidated old wood as a metaphor for a relationship break-down, mean that the film as a whole works, especially when accompanied by Lau’s gorgeous live score, which surges with electro clashes, rumbles of thunder and weeping violin.
The post-film performance by Lau is less consistent but has moments of brilliance. They are at their best when ramping up the intensity in their ferocious instrumental pieces. The oddly titled Horizontical is inspired by Morricone, desolate and melancholic, whereas Save the Bees, introduced playfully, throbs with almost Reich-like tempos. Their more traditionally-leaning folk is less interesting, but Gallowhill has a soothing country-tone, which rounds off the set like a warm, beery embrace.
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