Lead us not Into Temptation

David Byrne returned to his birthplace, Scotland, to compose the score Lead Us Not Into Temptation – the soundtrack for Young Adam – a new film directed by David MacKenzie. Byrne had been approached to score the soundtrack for Young Adam by his friends Hercules and Jeremy at the Recorded Picture Company, also producers of Bernardo Bertolucci's film The Last Emperor. Byrne co-wrote the score for The Last Emperor with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Cong Su, and ultimately won the Academy Award, the Golden Globe, and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association Award (1987) for Best Original Score. Young Adam is an adaptation of the 1954 novel by the Scottish beat writer Alexander Trocchi, starring Ewan McGregor, Peter Mullan and Tilda Swinton The film, an entirely Scottish production, is set against a very grim and repressed post-war Scotland

"They said it was an adaptation of a book written by a Scottish beat writer. The Alexander Trocchi book smelled like a sleazier version of Camus’ The Stranger, set in a colder climate. Trocchi, it turned out, was a legendary character who sowed addiction and destruction wherever he went- from Glasgow to LA. I suspect he could be the subject of another movie." – D. Byrne

In order to capture that mood, both MacKenzie and Byrne agreed that working with a group of Glaswegian musicians would be ideal. Byrne put together an ensemble of contemporary musicians from critically acclaimed Scottish bands that include Mogwai, Belle & Sebastian, The Delgados and Appendix Out. The musicians recorded Byrne’s compositions at a studio in Glasgow.

"I’d write some stuff in NY using samplers and such, mainly to have a framework to work from- and then the musicians and I built on those ideas. It went great - the musicians captured the right combinations of dark moods, sadness and sex." – D. Byrne

• How and Why: David Byrne about "Lead us not into Temptation"

Tracks:

1. Body in a River
2. Mnemonic Discordance
3. Seaside Smokes
4. Canal Life
5. Locks & Barges
6. Haitian Fight Song *)
7. Sex on the Docks
8. Inexorable
9. Warm Sheets
10. Dirty Hair
11. Bastard *)
12. The Lodger
13. Ineluctable *)
14. Speechless
15. The Great Western Road

*) Bonus track on CD (not included on the vinyl version)

"Sex on the Docks" and "Warm Sheets" in reversed order on vinyl ("Sheets" last track on side A, "Sex" first track on side B).