(Virgin/EMI)

At first glance, it actually comes across as a bit of a surprise to realise that it’s taken until now for a cinematic director to commission Massive Attack to put together the accompanying musical score for a motion picture, as their widescreen atmospheric compositions would seem to lend themselves more to the big screen than many other big names (the overarching reason behind their previous album tracks have been cherry-picked for high-profile scene placement in numerous films such as The Matrix and Go). But it’s true – while the Bristolian outfit have had a partial hand in the soundtrack game for some time now (donating specifically-written compositions to the ‘Welcome To Sarajevo’ and ‘Blade 2’ soundtrack albums), this newly-released soundtrack companion to French director Luc Besson’s (Fifth Element, La Femme Nikita) imminently-released movie ‘Danny The Dog’ marks the first time Massive Attack have been commissioned to provide an entire musical score from start to finish.

Even a quick glance through the accompanying promo material for ‘Danny The Dog’ suggests that Besson’s latest cinematic vision would be the perfect match for Massive’s increasingly infected and dystopian urban soundscapes, with the subject material placing a rather unconventional martial arts action thriller alongside the central themes of humanity and human isolation within a modern urban setting. Danny (martial arts dynamo Jet Li), is treated like a dog by his owner Bart (Bob Hoskins), and has the mind and personality of a child, with his only purpose being to fight in illegal ‘Fight Club’-style gatherings. After a car accident results in Bart falling into a coma, Danny must venture out without his help and discover what it means to be ‘human.’ All certainly dark and gritty yet redemptive thematic material that would seem to mesh perfectly with Massive’s brooding atmospheres and dub-heavy beats; and in this case, the remaining central Massive Attack production core of Robert ‘3D’ Del Naja and Neil Davidge which exerted a predominant influence on Massive’s last two albums (1998’s ‘Mezzanine’ and 2002’s ‘100th Window’) have hunkered down for 11 weeks in the studio, resulting in these 21 pieces of music that run in sequential order alongside their corresponding appearances in the movie.

In many senses, in terms of both emotional ‘feel’ and style, the 21 compositions included here veer far closer to Massive Attack’s last two albums, which forsook the earlier hip-hop / soul influences of ‘Blue Lines’ and ‘Protection’, in favour of a distinctly more menacing fusion of coldly synthetic and throbbing post-punk/industrial elements – though sonic similarities to ‘100th Window’ are to be expected as a quick look through the sleeve notes confirms the presence of much of that album’s studio personnel on this record also (including live guitarist Angelo Bruschini, drummer Damon Reece and bassist Sean Cook). With the tracklist packed with no less than 21 separate tracks over its 53-minute running time, many of the inclusions represent short atmospheric scene ‘pieces’, rather than extensive ‘tracks’ per se, and any traces of vocal elements have been omitted, in favour of a completely instrumental score.

‘Opening Title’ enters gently with droning, slightly de-tuned orchestral tones and delayed-out piano chords slowly sweeping in around vast-sounding, dubbed-out echoes that trail off in the distance before ‘Atta Boy’ positively slams in, smashing the contemplative calm with its buzzing industrial-tinged synth distortion and almost militaristic technoid beat programming coming on like a mutation of the sorts of sonic terrain Primal Scream explored on their recent ‘Evil Heat’ album. ‘P Is For Piano’ takes things back into soft-focus John Cage-like minimal orchestral drones and tentatively-struck piano chords that lend proceedings a medicated and claustrophobic ominous tones, while the wistfully-melancholic ‘Polaroid Girl’ ventures closer to the classic Massive Attack moments of years past, with slow looped beats treading their way inexorably forward beneath clanging tones, sweeping dub effects and sublime soul-tinged keyboards that slide around a vast backdrop of synthetic orchestration.

‘One Thought At A Time’ sounds like the twisted mutant offspring of Death In Vegas and punk-era bar brawlers The Stranglers, with an evil distorted Hammond-organ riff buzzing over crashing live drums and overdriven, digitally-processed rock guitar riffs that escalate into the red, before ‘You’ve Never Had A Dream’ edges slowly in with delicate ringing drones providing a glacial backdrop as a delicate piano figure picks its way over ominous distant buzzes and guitar distortion, epic strings rising up near the track’s conclusion with an emotional swell that segues smoothly into ‘Right Way To Hold A Spoon’s blurred-out ringing piano notes and blissful ambient calm. ‘Sweet Is Good’ dubs out and layers strummed acoustic guitar textures over a slithering delayed-out backing of slow brushed drums, while graceful piano, percussion and programmed snares play across the shimmering beats, leading into ‘Montage’, which ventures towards the brittle programmed beats and brooding electric guitar explored on ‘Mezzanine’, while also managing to inject a touch of urban blues that carries a hint of Radiohead in its plangent guitar tones and spidery ‘Kid A’-esque electronics. Finally, ‘The Academy’ brings this soundtrack album to an ambient, soft-focus close, with phased piano tones ringing out over a fog-like backdrop of swooning strings and ringing guitar.

‘Danny The Dog’ is an excellent first film-score outing from Bristolian downtempo kings Massive Attack that shows 3D and Davidge touching on the sorts of ominous yet emotive scarred post-industrial atmospheres they explored on ‘Mezzanine’ and ‘100th Window’, whilst also masterfully distilling them into a soundtrack format. As I haven’t seen the movie itself, I’ll have to get back to you as to the degree of extra gravitas Massive’s musical contributions lend to the visuals, and one disadvantage perhaps to having not viewed the accompanying films is that the ‘sequential’ nature by which the tracklisting mirrors the plot, is that at first the overall flow of tracks may come across as a slightly jarring listen. As the film moves between quiet and intense scenes, so to does the musical flow of this album, with a quiet ambient piano piece barely a minute long followed by a rock-infused heavier moment, and so on, meaning that the constant rapid shift between moods may make for a slightly bumpy ride for listeners expecting to nod off to slow orchestral ambience. Having said that, ‘Danny The Dog’ nicely illustrates the considerably wide terrain Massive Attack now inhabit in 2004 – one that stretches from gossamer-light swooning orchestration and slow beats, right across to blazing MBV-style guitar pyrokinetics and slamming industrial-tinged rock textures. From the evidence presented here, it also doesn’t look like 3D and Co. will be looking back towards the warm hiphop / soul of ‘Blue Lines’ as they approach their next record…but then again, change is the stock-in-trade of life, as they say… Recommended.

Check out http://www.massiveattack.com and http://www.dannythedog-lefilm.com