Hyde Park Pick: The History of Sound

The presence of Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor in one film was always going to capture our attention. Add in some atmospheric shots of lovely folk singing around a piano and then a meander in the countryside and of course, this is a film for us.

But The History of Sound is a lot more than some starry leads and nice settings. It’s a deeply beautiful film that uses a love story to explore not only the personal value of song but also its communal role. Songwriting as emotional historian.  

Watching The History of Sound, I was reminded of the visit we had to the Picture House in 2014 from Eric Isaacson of Mississippi Records. At the time, Isaacson was touring with an event called I don’t feel at home in this world anymore: Film, stories & images from the Mississippi Records and Alan Lomax archive. The event (or pairing as they actually passed through Leeds twice) was part lecture, part film screening and part performance. It included the screening of some rarely seen footage from the Alan Lomax archive, captured as he journeyed around North America between 1978 and 1985. Lomax had been collecting aural recordings as part of these trips for much longer, going back as early as the 1940s and spanning right across the globe.

The two events flipped between time periods and media, with live performances by musicians including Lori Goldston and Marisa Anderson helping ensure the history of music, which was being explored, could be brought to life and felt in the room. Making a living sort of history to be understood and appreciated in part through experience.

Going back to the film, watching The History of Sound feels like a remarkably similar experience. A respectful ode to the past, made alive and authentic through its production.

Key to this is seriousness, and sensitivity with which music has been handled as part of the film-making process. This includes an original score from the critically acclaimed British composer Oliver Coates, who also worked on Aftersun as well as other films like Pillion and Under The Skin. Woven in amongst that original score is a stunning mixture of traditional folk songs and choral pieces, many of which would have been authentic to the time the film was set.

To help bring authenticity to this, famed folk musician Sam Amidon was brought on board to both advise on the music, but also to help support as singing coach to Mescal and O’Connor, making their performances in the film as authentic as possible. Amidon was brought up in a family of folk educators from New England, so he was brought up not just learning the music but understanding the history and significance of what he was performing. When you understand that history it makes it possible to play and experiment, to push at the boundaries of a form whilst also still honouring its past.

Whether The History of Sound is a traditional love story, whose form has been bent and moulded by how the director, Oliver Hermanus (Moffie, Living) has folded in a secondary tale about music, or a film about music, using a love story as a tool to express a deeper truth about the power of song, I don't know. But I do think that it's in the different sides to the film that something truly special has formed. 

The History of Sound is showing at HPPH from Fri 30 Jan. You can find times & tickets here.