Instrument Soundtrack


Instrument Soundtrack is a 1999 soundtrack album by the American post-hardcore band Fugazi. It serves as the score for Jem Cohen's documentary film Instrument, which follows the band.

Background

Instrument Soundtrack is the soundtrack album to Instrument, a 1999 documentary film about Fugazi directed by Jem Cohen. It consists of various instrumental tracks, demo recordings, and "studio outtakes". "I'm [So Tired |I'm So Tired]", a piano ballad played and sung by Ian MacKaye, was performed on a piano that "just happened to be" in the recording space where the group was working on Red Medicine.

Covers

"I'm So Tired" has been covered by Fog Lake, Gengahr, Jennylee, Lala Lala, Ultimate Painting, and Eddie Vedder. The song was also covered by Kiki and Herb in their 2016 cabaret show Kiki & Herb: Seeking Asylum! at Joe's Pub.

Reception

Brent DiCrescenzo of Pitchfork gave the album a positive review, describing it as "sound remarkably playful" and concluding: "For all those who worry that the Fugazi story may be coming to an end, both Instrument and its soundtrack show a band still growing and, in some ways, just getting started." Amy Sciarretto of CMJ [New Music Report] wrote: "Collecting 18 surprisingly ambient, previously unreleased Fugazi demos and practice tapes, Instrument is Fugazi's most focused attempt at mellowness and subtlety." The New [Rolling Stone Album Guide] called the album "mostly ragged and unformed, but for confirmed Fugaziphiles, it's a solidly interesting peek into the band's creative process."
MacKaye later said of the album:
Instrument is sort of my favorite record, because those were recorded for us. So none of it was for public consumption. So when you listen back, it's just us practicing, us playing together, and it just sounds relaxed.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.

Fugazi