Alan Greenberg, who wrote and directed this film covering the funeral of Bob Marley, had originally planned to use the music of Closed System Potentials for his soundtrack. But CSP had previously been used as the installation music for conceptual artist Eddy deEddy’s Rodin Crater Project, premiered at the Temporary Contemporary Art Museum in Los Angeles a year following the release of CSP.

To create new music for the film the location tapes were put to work to originate many of the rhythm patterns for Land of Look Behind. By making loops of the monologues – the testimony – and using phrases that had more distinctive cadence and pace, the various words, glottal stops, clicks and coughs were used as cues for a variety of percussion instruments. In effect, speech became an organizing principle of the musical score. This method of originating the clock for each track eliminated the accuracy of click tracks, forcing the players to rove through the timing inconsistencies of voice-derived patterns.

Land of Look Behind was recorded in just two months and today parts of it seem very rushed, while others seem simply naïve in a charming, desultory way. Despite the rush, by on relying so heavily on the location recordings and the voices of the people of Jamaica, there remains an air of authenticity about this music.

Credits

All compositions by Kerry Leimer
Kevin Hodges: kit drums
Steve Fisk : percussion
Cover photograph from the Alan Greenberg film Land of Look Behind
Recorded at Tactical, Seattle
Remastered at Ironwood Studios, Seattle 1999
Music and notes © Kerry Leimer