A Little 'Midnight' Music

Will Sheff (Photo by Mary Sledd)

In Search of a Midnight Kiss writer/director Alex Holdridge and songwriter Will Sheff of Okkervil River (and formerly of Shearwater) use the same words to describe each other's work: poignant, earnest, and raw. Both have a distinct knack for character-driven narratives, a way of revealing unsettling truths without really commenting on them, and the ability to force their respective audience to wrestle with the meaning.

"I have written all of my stuff to his music," confesses Holdridge, who first discovered Okkervil River at Little City while he was writing his 2003 film, Sexless; both band and coffeehouse were featured prominently in the film. After viewing Sexless together, Sheff felt compelled to write "My Good Deed," a highly cinematic song that was originally issued on Shearwater's Winged Life and crops back up in In Search of a Midnight Kiss, perfectly contextualizing its movement and character development. While the soundtrack, which will be released digitally in October through 1610 Recordings, also features locals Asylum Street Spankers, Hot Club of Cowtown, and Sybil, led by cinematographer Robert Murphy, it's the use of Sheff's stark home recordings ("Lines," "Mermaid") that gives In Search of a Midnight Kiss its edge, the brokenness of his voice accentuating the film's black-and-white imagery.

"[Sheff] specifically told me not to share the recordings with anyone under any circumstances," Holdridge confesses. "But I loved the feeling of the song. You could hear the guitar's chords changing." Sheff ultimately found out the demo was used when he saw a final cut at the Tribeca Film Festival. Fortunately there's no denying its effect. "Of course, I was a bit amused at the time," Sheff concedes. "Alex puts a whole lot of himself into his films, so it's only fair that I put that same sort of unvarnished view of my music on the line as well."