Folk Music Tells the History of Sound
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Folk Music Tells The History of Sound
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By Ben Elliott
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Folk music is often nothing more than a simple melody used to tell a story. But those stories carry deep meaning — an oral tradition of passing cultural identity from generation to generation, of keeping history alive..
So much of the joy of Oliver Hermanus’ The History of Sound, the new film coming to The Triplex this week, comes from the moments when we sit with the characters and let this music wash over us. The story of Lionel and David (Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor) — two young men who meet as students at the New England Conservatory of Music and quickly fall in love — follows the couple as they reunite to travel through rural Maine, recording the folk songs of its people in the years following World War I.
The History of Sound, 2025The joy of these moments is interrupted as life, as it tends to do, gets in the way. David keeps Lionel at a distance as he struggles to process his experiences from the war; Lionel attempts to move on, but his relationship with David continues to echo across his life like a song he can’t get out of his head.
The History of Sound, 2025
Chris Cooper, appearing as an older Lionel toward the end of the film, gives an interview where he describes folk music as “the voices of thousands of people… songs of people, songs my father sung, songs my grandfather knew…” and as a response to “sadness so great they turned to song as if melody could make hardship laughter.”
It’s this shared connection — this communion with the past — that makes these songs so stirring. Being a part of this tradition is both a celebratory and humbling act: in the end, Lionel and David are just two more voices carrying these tunes across time, adding the weight of their lives to the harmony of history.
Showtimes
Showtimes Nuremberg | 10:30AM Now You See Me: Now You Don't | 10:45AM, 1:30PM, 4:45PM, 8:00PM Wicked: For Good | 1:00PM, 2:00PM, 4:15PM, 5:15PM, 7:30PM, 8:30PM
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