If you’ve been paying attention to American independent cinema in the first decade of the 21st century, then the name David Wingo will do more than just ring a bell. Wingo’s resume as a feature film composer could serve as its own primer course for this special chapter in history, which, as the decade winds to a close, begins to grow in stature. Perhaps most well known for his work with longtime friend David Gordon Green on George Washington, All the Real Girls, Undertow, and Snow Angels, Wingo has also lent his services to Jordan Melamed’s Manic, Todd Rohal’s The Guatemalan Handshake, Craig Zobel’s Great World of Sound, and, most recently, Jared Hess’ Gentlemen Broncos.
As if that weren’t enough, Wingo has his own musical project, Ola Podrida, which coasts on a similarly cinematic breeze. Every Ola Podrida song feels like its own self-contained movie, as aching melodies support nostalgic, bittersweet lyrics to paint visual, as well as emotional, pictures. As good as Ola Podrida’s self-titled 2007 debut was, the newly released follow-up, Belly of the Lion, is even better. Buy it at Amazon
To coincide with the album’s release, Wingo has just unveiled the first video off Belly of the Lion. The song is called “This Old World,” and it’s the last track. To direct, Wingo recruited fellow Austinites the Zellner Brothers, who are no strangers to this site (read our reviews of their feature GOLIATH and their ree-donk-yew-luss web series Fiddlestixx). It’s a scrappy little video featuring a scrappy little girl standing in for Wingo and destroying things. It’s also quite lovely:
— Michael Tully (Full disclosure: If you didn’t know, I’m very good friends with David Wingo, so do with that information what you will. Though I dare you to give Belly of the Lion several listens and not deem it to be one of the finest releases of 2009. I double dare you!)
