‘He was always around the when l was a child.~
‘But you were never a child.’
‘I was a child like him.‘ I said. and I felt all the exasperation ol' the hour as I looked at the bald man.
‘No. limbo.‘ he said.
The ('lyde's fro/en depths seemed to rise in that instant and embrace me. 'My name is Douglas (iordon.~ I said.
‘l)o not mourn overtnuch.~ said the man. ‘you are lint-ken dead and l atn content to bring you into the dark with me.’
I looked at the city and saw it then as a glimmering phantasm - all I had known about it
melted into the night and only the water under
the barge seemed dependable and willing as we tnoved. 'I had a lil'ef I said.
‘A life of sorts.‘ he said. 'and we have encouraged you in this game of love and chance. But you are dead. limbo Park.’
'lle is limbo Park.’ I said. reaching for breath. 'He is litnbo. and he has followed tne in my life. and he has lilmed me.‘
‘lt is not so.‘ the man said. ‘the young man on
‘Staying Home’ 8. ‘Going Out' (above left); ‘Every time you-think of me, you die a little’ (below left); ‘100 Blind Star Series: Mirror Blind Greta’ (this page) and stills from ‘Feature Film’ (bottom)
the bank is called Douglas (iordonf
I stared at my hand and could feel the chill of the moon and the airless moment. A notion of my soul’s salvation screatned out to the dark of the river — there was silence. I shouted out his name. my name. and the dog‘s dead eyes stared at the water. ‘limbol'. I shouted: ‘l)oug|as!‘. l shouted; but nothing changed. the river's oil stirred black and remorseless as the boat moved on. I recalled the faces of people in buildings screaming for life and falling. l'alling. l'alling. My own voice met the image of itself in the blind terror of a nightmare: I opened my mouth to scream. and saw no reflection in the river.
There was silence.
I jumped into the (‘lyde and felt the slime of ages -— dead salmon. ship fuel. the vomit ol‘ suicides. rusted chains and rotting hulls. asbestos llakes — slip over my arms and the very last light of Glasgow seemed to pass like diatnond dust through the internal gloom ol'the old river . . .
Be Near Me by Andrew O’Hagan is out now
DOUGLAS GORDON
SCORE DRAW
Glasgow's transcendental rock outfit Mogwai provided the mesmeric soundtrack to Douglas Gordon '3 film Zidane: A 2 7st Century Portrait. The band '8 Stuart Braithwaite explains their take on the collaboration.
‘I knew Douglas before; he was supposed to design the cover of our Rock Action album, but as is the case with these things, it never happened. He ran past us what they had done with the Zidane film and it sounded bizarre. To be honest, I didn’t get it until we watched it. They had actually used some of our music in it and we were really blown away. It seemed such an extreme project, such an over the top idea that we bought right into it. Straight away, we wanted to do it.
‘We just squeezed it in amongst all the touring. I’m actually kind of astonished by how well it turned out, especially along with the film. I was really pleased that they showed it at the Edinburgh Film Festival.
‘I think a lot of what both Douglas does and what we’re trying to do in Mogwai are quite similar. I think our music has a really detached feeling to it and that, to me, is the theme of the film. It really is about how someone can appear so lonely when there’s, like, 100,000 people watching them do something they’re amazing at. I think our music has an element of that to it as well.
‘There wasn’t really any kind of dialogue or brief from Douglas, he just let us get on with it. The only real discussion was when he still wanted to use some of the old music and we didn’t. People always disagree when they’re working together, but Douglas came around in the end. I think they did a really great job.
‘There was a different process (compared to recording our other albums) because we had to do it a lot quicker. A lot more of it was played live and we didn’t have an awful lot of time to refine and rework what we’d written. When it’s a record on its own then that’s what it is. As a soundtrack is a kind of accompaniment to something, we deliberately left a lot more of the music in than we would normally have in our songs.
‘I think the Zidane project is an amazingly accomplished thing for both him and us.’
I Zidane: A 2 lst Century Portrait is out now on P/AS. See next issue for our review.
IE) Oct~2 Nov 2006 THE LIST 23