No, not the dodgy '80s pop starlet but an even dodgier Heath Ledger vehicle which lasted, ooh, minutes in the cinema. Heath's a priest investigating a possible murder within the murky corridors of the Catholic Church, in a role which has Antonio-Banderasturned-this-down written all over it. Gothic horror ensues, but your stomach will churn for all the wrong reasons.
The alter-ego of Jon DeRosa (whose day job is with electro outfit Aarktica), Pale Horse And Rider first surfaced as a steel-stringed side project on last year's Alcohol/EPs. For his first LP, Brooklyn-based DeRosa opted for the cloistered acoustics of Duluth, Minnesota's Sacred Heart Church, with Low's Alan Sparhawk recording. At times minimal to the point of disappearing, this is a spare exercise in frayed-at-the-seam country, spooked by banjo, harmonium and piano notes that hang in the air.
Arguably (though there's no debate among the voices in this listener's head) the best album of 2001, Asleep In The Back must have been a tough (and tender) act to follow. Partly because the Lancashire-based band had around 10 years to write, record and re-record that debut, navigating a route through various music biz mazes. Required to deliver a follow-up with unaccustomed haste after gold discs, rave reviews and sold-out US tours, Elbow initially froze. "It was like rolling a boulder up a hill", Guy Garvey's said. They took a break, reflected, reconvened.
Written and directed by the perennially underrated French-Canadian Denys Arcand, this engrossing 1989 fable sees Lothaire Bluteau as an actor playing Jesus who's caught up in conflict with the church. His problems begin to echo those of the Biblical Christ. Oscar-nominated, the dry, ironic style gives it a wry resonance more effective than any breast-beating.
