SQÜRL, the duo of filmmaker Jim Jarmusch and composer Carter Logan, have announced a new album, Music for Man Ray — “a sonic exploration of the cinematic works of Dadaist pioneer Man Ray.” It’s set to be released on May 17th via Sacred Bones.
For the past eight years, Jarmusch and Logan have been providing the live score to the short films of Man Ray in venues across the world. This culminated with the 100th anniversary of Man Ray’s inaugural foray into filmmaking in the spring of 2023, when the newly restored Man Ray: Return to Reason — a Man Ray anthology — premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.
The recordings on this particular album were born from a February 2023 performance at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Like with their past work under the SQÜRL moniker, the resulting music was created with “distorted guitars, hypnotic feedback, loops and affected synthesizers.”
“It’s a journey we want to take the audience on, illuminating themes throughout these films,” Logan said via a press release. “They are discrete, but there are also recurring echoes throughout the whole program.”
Added Jarmusch: “We feel very proud to be Man Ray’s backup band.”
As for Man Ray: Return to Reason, the anthology features four silent short films by Man Ray: Étoile de mer (1928), Emak bakia (1926), Le Retour á la Raison (1923), and Les Mysteres du Château de Dé (1929) — each paired with an original score by SQÜRL. The anthology is set to open in New York at IFC Center on May 15th.
Pre-order Music of Man Ray via Bandcamp and see the artwork and tracklist below. For more on SQÜRL, revisit our 2023 interview in which the duo discusses their album Silver Haze, their favorite film scores, and more.
Music of Man Ray Artwork:
Music of Man Ray Tracklist:
01. Starfish
02. Leave Me Alone
03. The Return
04. Castle of Dice