Soundtrack - The Broken Circle Breakdown (2012)

The Broken Circle Breakdown is a 2012 Belgian drama film directed by Felix Van Groeningen. Based on the play written by Johan Heldenbergh and Mieke Dobbels, its main characters are Didier, played by Heldenbergh, and Elise, played by actress/singer Veerle Baetens. Young newcomer Nell Cattrysse is their ill daughter Maybelle.
The film was selected as the Belgian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards, and was on the nominated shortlist. It was the winner of the 2013 LUX Prize.
The bluegrass soundtrack includes traditional songs as well as music composed for the film by Bjorn Eriksson. All the music in the band scenes is performed by the actors.
Hooked into it on the back of the Belgian film which this is the soundtrack from The Broken Circle Breakdown. I headed over to buy this pretty instantly, worn out by having to go to YouTube, again and again, in order to play trailers to hear tracks again.
The music is merrily (and heartbreakingly) playing, and dissociated from those stunning performances in the film where the tracks are in a different, progressive order and each track is telling the story of what is happening for Elise and Didier.
Within the film itself my focus was on vocal performance from Veerle Baetens and Johan Heldenbergh. Baetens has a sweet, fragile voice working particularly well on the stick a knife into the heart tracks, though there is a lovely openhearted freshness in her rendition of bouncier numbers like Country In My Genes, whilst Heldenbergh has more textures in his voice, rich, full, even a little rough and burly on the Bruce Springsteen number Further On Up the Road,and lighter, more tender, without the grit in his duets and accompanying numbers with Baetens, as befits the way the music is used to explore their relationship as individuals who sing love songs with each other.
Divorced from the film, it is the quality and texture of the marvellous musicians that I'm now drawn to engage with: the weavings, the riding a horse trot and bounciness of the rhythms of the faster numbers, trotting, cantering galloping Yeeeee ----Haaar! so that sitting to listen is hard, the listener forced to toe tap, arm shake and finally give in and jig and skip. Finally (because of the different order of tracks in film and CD) you are allowed to rest, catch your breath and and hear how tender and soulful Bjorn Eriksson's guitar, and the viols or mandolines of Geeart Waegeman and Nils de Caster can get.
The purely instrumental tracks are a wonder and delight of flying, flirty weavings, call and response, back-chat and breathless virtuosity
Within the film itself the movement of the music is one of steady darkening, the fizz and ebullient, show-off daredevil champagne tracks occurring earlier, and the steadily painful tracks of loss and despair and loneliness inevitably charting the sad journey of the film.

Track listing

01. "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" - 2:08
02. "The Boy Who Wouldn't Hoe Corn" - 4:21
03. "Dusty Mixed Feelings" - 0:56
04. "Wayfraring Stranger" - 2:51
05. "Rueben's Train" - 3:20
06. "Country In The Genes" - 3:32
07. "Further On Up The Road" - 3:42
08. "Where Are You Heading, Tumbleweed?" - 1:50
09. "Over In The Gloryland" - 1:55
10. "Cowboy Man" - 2:31
11. "If I Needed You" - 3:04
12. "Carved Tree Inn" - 1:01
13. "Sand Mountain" - 3:20
14. "Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us" - 3:15
15. "Blackberry Blossom" - 2:24

Notes
Genre:  Soundtrack, Bluegrass
Length: 40:27
© 2012

Label - Universal