Spiritualized’s J Spaceman and John Coxon will release their score for photographer William Eggleston’s 1970s art film Stranded in Canton on October 18 via Fat Possum. Additionally, the duo will perform it live to the film at special events in NYC, LA, London and in Eggleston’s hometown of Memphis this fall.
Shot in Memphis in 1974 with early consumer video camera Sony Porta-pak, the film features Eggleston and other Memphis fringe-dwellers playing music, drinking, popping quaaludes, and generally hanging out. The footage wasn’t edited together till 2005; it was screened in 2015 as part of Doug Aitken’s Station to Station, a 30-day arts festival in London and for it Aitken asked J. Spaceman to provide a live score, featuring Spiritualized members Coxon, Tony “Doggen” Foster, and drummer Rupert Clervaux.
“There was a fashion at the time where people were putting on gigs with movies without the sound, for bands to jam over and I hate the idea of jamming,” say J. “We wanted to do something that was more structured, songs that sat alongside the film but loose enough to allow for improvisation. It kind of worked straight away. And the spoken word parts of the film almost became like vocals to the music.”
Adds, J Spaceman: “With Memphis, I grew up with and I fell in love with that whole part of the world and the music that came from there,” explains Spaceman. “Memphis is infused with this magic, then this dreadful poverty as well. There’s a strangeness to it. It’s a place where I never felt comfortable. When I was making Ladies and Gentlemen, I went out and did some work with Jim Dickinson because, much as I wanted to have him help me with my record, I just wanted to go and meet the man. He was always a bit like Dr. John, a walking encyclopedia with knowledge of all the music of that area, all the blues musicians and all the stuff that doesn’t get written about. So, the Eggleston film is a spying hole into that world. Jim Dickinson even plays in the movie, Furry Lewis plays in the movie too, but there’s also an unhinged craziness. It feels dangerous.”
The recording of the London screening sat on a shelf for nearly a decade before being mixed and mastered for this album. You can check out “Mother’s milk” and the scene it plays in below.
The NYC screening and performance happens at Le Poisson Rouge on December 4 and tickets go on sale Friday, July 12 at 10 AM. All dates are listed below.
Stranded in Canton
1. I was stranded in Canton
2. Last week I took a trip
3. It’s not gospel
4. What train blues
5. I don’t know what I can possibly do
6. Mother’s milk
7. Back Up William
8. Everybody in their life at one time or another
9. Love for the asking
10. Credits roll
J Spaceman & John Coxon Tour Dates
Wed. Nov. 20 – London, UK @ EartH
Wed. Dec. 4 – New York, NY @ Le Poisson Rouge
Sat. Dec. 7 – Memphis, TN @ Crosstown Theater (WYXR)
Mon. Dec. 9 – Los Angeles, CA @ Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever