PEOPLE ON SUNDAY - WHITE VINYL by DOMENIQUE DUMONT

Rush Hour Store Record of the week W06: 

Latvian man of mystery Domenique Dumont creates a new soundtrack to an ninety year old silent movie. The results are stunning.

‘People on Sunday’ (original title: Menschen am Sonntag) is a 1930 German silent drama film directed by Robert Siodmak and Edgar G. Ulmer from a screenplay by the great Billy Wilder. Part documentary, part fiction, it’s a everyday depiction of life in Berlin between the two world wars. A true classic and still a great watch some ninety years later (check out the restored version on Daily Motion if you have time to spare).

Although Domenique Dumont’s soundtrack is far from the first new musical interpretation to accompany Wilder’s Weimar classic, it does add a new dimension and flavor to the storied original. The Latvian producer’s subdued approach - a gentle and often sparse one, is perfectly in tune with the feeling evoked by the movie itself.

Created with a wide palette of vintage synthesizers, Dumont’s movie music sometimes resembles the sound of both Hiroshi Yoshimura’s ambient masterpieces ‘Green’ and ‘Music for Nine Post Cards’ and Mort Garson’s ‘Plantasia’ (no shabby references) without ever trying to emulate any of those masterworks. Dumont is too good a composer to simply imitate others.

Just check out the circular opening track ‘Arrival’, built around a gently rotating melodic loop evoking the feeling of times less complicated. Or the shimmering ‘Sunshine in 1929’ (‘29 was the year the movie was actually shot) - three minutes and forty-five seconds of pure naive bliss. Something we can all use more of right now. (RO) ⁣

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People On Sunday is an original soundtrack to the 1930 silent film variously known as Menschen am Sonntag, Les Hommes le Dimanche and People On Sunday. The film is a key work of interwar German cinema, based on a screenplay by Billy Wilder. 

Like Domenique Dumont’s earlier albums, Comme Ça and Miniatures De Auto Rhythm, People On Sunday evokes a more innocent, carefree time conjured by wistful electronics full of warmth and melody. Touching on the hazy exotica that made those two records so alluring, here Dumont draws on his love of classical music, library music and early electronic experimentation to create a timeless, optimistic sound. If his past productions possessed a certain Mediterranean quality, across these 13 new pieces Dumont’s shimmering synth-pop has an enchanting simplicity.