Big Ears 2019 Recap: Dragnet Girl Soundtrack by Coupler

Founded in 2011 by Lambchop veteran Ryan Norris, Coupler’s core is Norris along with Rodrigo Avendaño and drummer Rollum Haas. At its root, the Nashville-meets-Chicago trio is an exercise in mutual cooperation and an exploration of the intersections of man and machine, live and recorded, composed and improvised, stasis and flux. Coupler’s music has always used the language of ambient without being ambient per se. “I prefer to think of Coupler less as a band and more as a multimedia project,” Norris has said. “Kraftwerk were fond of using the term “organization”. I like that.”

More footage this year’s Big Ears! This time is a mysterious/haunting/noirish soundtrack to equally noirish 1933 Japanese gangster film Dragnet Girl that was created by Coupler, brainchild of Ryan Norris (Lambs, Hands Off Cuba, Lone Official)!

This formally accomplished and psychologically complex gangster tale pivots on the growing attraction between Joji, a hardened career criminal, and Kazuko, the sweet-natured older sister of a newly initiated young hoodlum—a relationship that provokes the jealousy of Joji’s otherwise patient moll, Tokiko. With effortlessly cool performances and visual inventiveness, Dragnet Girl is a bravura work from Yasujiro Ozu.
Criterion Collection

Ryan also compiled The Garden of Harmonious Interests mix for us which we highly recommend everyone to check out! This one features Front 242, Talk Talk, Arvo Part, Brian Eno and many more!