Portishead have covered ABBA‘s song “SOS” for a new film.
The recording was announced on the band’s website earlier today [October 8].
The film is High Rise, the new project by Ben Wheatley, the director of Kill List and A Field In England.
High Rise is adapted from JG Ballard‘s novel and stars Tom Hiddleston and Jeremy Irons.
It screens at the Odeon Leicester Square tonight [October 9] as part of the London Film Festival.
According to a report on Crack magazine, the film contains two versions of the song – one by Portishead and a second by the film’s composer Clint Mansell.
In an interview with LA Times, Wheatley explained: “The idea of it is really that kind of cultural echo, where you hear something and then you hear it again in a different context… By the time you get to the second playing of it, everything’s broken down and the actual lyrics were speaking directly to the movie.”
“The idea of the party version and then the Portishead version, you have a definitive sonic representation of the degradation of the system,” Mansell explained. “My version was born from swinging party music, string arrangements of contemporary music, and then you have the definite mood change by the time you have the Portishead version.”
The History Of Rock – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – a brand new monthly magazine from the makers of Uncut – is now on sale in the UK. Click here for more details.
Uncut: the spiritual home of great rock music.