ELASTICA are aiming to release their long-awaited new material before the end of this year.
The band (singer Justine Frischmann pictured) recorded five tracks in a London studio at the start of 1998. One of the tracks, ‘Human’, was recorded with The Dust Brothers and will be featured on the soundtrack to forthcoming MTV-funded film [I]Dead Man On Campus which is due out in September.
The song centres on a ‘love lost’ theme. Part of the lyric reads: “I was only human, own flesh and blood/I would relate to you, you know I could”. The final verse runs: “I long to hold you/And watch you run/You don’t sing like you want to/You know I could”.
‘Human’ is described as moody and atmospheric with Justine whispering the lyrics through a vocoder. The song ends with a typical Elastica guitar squall. The soundtrack, which is the first film project overseen by Dust Brothers Mike Simpson and John King, also features tracks from Blur, Supergrass, Propellerheads, The Chemical Brothers and Marilyn Manson.
“We really saw this as an opportunity to work with bands we’re fans of,” Simpson said. “We made a wishlist of favourite groups and hoped whatever we came up with would work with the scenes in the film.” Blur and Supergrass re-recorded their previously released B-sides ‘Cowboy Song’ and ‘We Still Need More (Than Anyone Can Give)’ with The Dust Brothers.
The Chemical Brothers remixed new Dust Brothers track ‘Realize’, written exclusively for the film. Propellerheads remixed Soul Coughing track ‘Super Bon Bon’ and Marilyn Manson recorded a version of David Bowie’s ‘Golden Years’ which will run over the opening credits.
The most unlikely pairing on the soundtrack is Marilyn Manson bassist Twiggy Ramirez and ’60s model Twiggy, who team up on a twisted version of Dusty Springfield’s ‘I Only Want To Be With You’. The pair were put in touch with each other after Ramirez met a friend of the model backstage when Marilyn Manson appeared on The Late Show With David Letterman in New York. Dead Man On Campus is a dark comedy about the lengths college students will go to in order to pass their grades.