Jonny Greenwood, Paul Thomas Anderson Team for ‘Junun’ Documentary
Radiohead‘s Jonny Greenwood has teamed with director Paul Thomas Anderson for a new documentary titled Junun, which follows the guitarist’s journey to India to record a new LP with Israeli composer Shye Ben Tzur and regional musicians. Junun, filmed in Rajasthan in northwest India during the month-long recording session, will have its world premiere at the New York Film Festival, which runs from September 25th to October 11th, the New York Times reports.
According to the New York Film Festival, Junun, which clocks in at just under an hour, “lives and breathes music, music-making, and the close camaraderie of artistic collaboration. It’s a lovely impressionistic mosaic and a one-of-a-kind sonic experience: the music will blow your mind.”
In February, Greenwood spoke to the Guardian about the experience of recording in India. “It’s been amazing, actually, working with Indian musicians. They have such a different energy and enthusiasm for music,” the musician said. “It’s just, it’s part of life here, it feels, rather than just being an occupation. It’s different; there’s music everywhere. Like when we’re playing and recording or rehearsing with these musicians, when they take a break, they go and play more. That’s not true in England. We just take a break. But here, it’s just this urge to make music, and it’s really inspiring.”
Anderson and Greenwood began collaborating in 2007, when the guitarist provided the score for the director’s There Will Be Blood. Greenwood also composed the original music for Anderson’s next two films, 2012’s The Master and 2014’s Inherent Vice, the latter boasting an unreleased Radiohead song titled “Spooks” that was re-recorded for the Thomas Pynchon adaptation.
Although Anderson is a veteran of music videos for artists like Fiona Apple, Aimee Mann and, most recently, Joanna Newsom, Junun marks both his first music documentary and debut documentary film in general.
Meanwhile, Greenwood’s India-recorded LP becomes the latest Radiohead-related project that it not a new Radiohead album, joining Thom Yorke’s score for Old Times‘ Broadway revival and a surprise appearance at the Latitude Festival.