Werner Herzog’s Fata Morgana is a hallucinatory, Sahara-set “documentary” filmed decades ago, blending long, hypnotic desert shots with music by Johnny Cash and Leonard Cohen. In 2007, Mouse on Mars created a live, psychedelic score for the film, merging electronics, guitar, drums, and horns into an experimental soundtrack that ultimately left Herzog unimpressed.
Mouse On Mars scores Herzog
Werner Herzog, you see, made a film about five lifetimes ago, such a controversial and hallucinogenic Sahara-set sci-fi “documentary” titled Fata Morgana: he held the camera out in the desert for a very long time and then added a few songs by Johnny Cash and Leonard Cohen.
In 2007 an Italian film festival invited Mouse on Mars to score a film of their choice. The film comes with a soundtrack by Mozart, Leonard Cohen, Third Ear Band and field recordings. Andi Toma and Jan St. Werner sent a DVD to Düsseldorf and started working: the idea is to score the film in real time so instrumentation has to be readily at hand.
Mouse On Mars‘ approach is heavy on the psychedelia too, made in real-time with guitar, drums, electronics, tapes, a sampler and pedals. For instance, “goerzH” is another leftfield delight, as it ends with a surprisingly tender guitar and flugelhorn interlude, but every piece is otherwise roughly a variation of futuristic “anything goes” psychedelia.
Eventually the album is a collection of avant-garde electronic and ambient pieces that blend experimental electronic sounds with live instruments like guitar, drums, and a horn. At some point, they realized that Herzog wasn’t at all happy about it. Because Mouse on Mars is celebrating another anniversary, Herzog Sessions is being released anyway.
Herzog Sessions is available on sonig. [Bandcamp]
