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Arts
Friday, October 28, 2016 — 5

BBC AMERICA

The hound of the Baskervilles

From the pages of Douglas 

Adams, author of “The Hitch-
hiker’s 
Guide 

to 
the 
Galaxy,” 

comes a quirky 
television 
series 

that plays off of 
the ages-old trope 
of an intelligent, 
yet socially awk-
ward 
detective 

who solves crimes 
for a living. This 
setup is not out-
side of the BBC’s 
domain, 
as 
the 

network is well-
known for their 
modern adaptation of Sir Arthur 
Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes 
in the acclaimed series “Sher-
lock.” However, in this case, the 
name is Dirk Gently, and the 
game is solving crimes in the 
most holistic, matter-of-chance 
manner allowed in the murder 
business.

Over the past few years, the 

BBC has kept relatively close to 
its own territory, struggling to 
deviate from its more developed 
and popular series, so it’s nice to 
see the network taking chances 
in “Dirk Gently.” From start to 
finish, “Dirk Gently’s Holistic 
Detective Agency” is as eccen-
tric and exotic as its name sug-
gests.

The lead of “Dirk Gently” ’s 

pilot is not the titular detec-
tive himself, but rather Todd 
Brotzman (Elijah Wood, “The 
Lord of the Rings” series), a 
hapless hotel employee whose 
life is turned upside down by an 
impossibly grisly murder scene. 
This role marks Wood’s return 
to television, following a run-
ning lead on the cult comedy 

“Wilfred,” a stint that prepared 
him for his role as a struggling 
young man on “Dirk Gently.”

Adapted for television by 

screenwriter 
Max 
Landis 

(“Chronicle”), the 
series glances at 
the detective busi-
ness through an 
indie film lens, not 
unlike the work 
of Wes Anderson. 
From a trapped 
young woman in 
the upstairs flat 
that 
glows 
red 

to the corgi that 
follows Todd in 
a distinctly un-
canine 
manner, 

nothing 
about 

this series is generic. In its own 
way, the series is venturing into 
cult-classic territory through 
dabbling in the abnormal and 
impossible.

In fact, the premise of the 

series seems to pull a lot from 
the world of impossibilities. 
Dirk Gently (Samuel Barnett, 
“Penny Dreadful”) is horribly 
reminiscent of the weird kid 
down the street who reads just a 
little too much Star Wars fanfic-
tion than should be comfortably 
allowed. Gently is a self-pro-
claimed “holistic detective” — 
as in, he literally does nothing to 
solve a case. Believing in chance 
and the universal interconnect-
edness of events, he lets fate do 
the heavy lifting, opting to just 
sit back and enjoy the ride. More 
times than not, Gently’s manner 
of solving a case doesn’t actually 
work, but it’s all in good fun, as 
Barnett’s mannerisms and per-
sonality make him the perfect 
choice for the eccentric detec-
tive. You’ll find it difficult not to 
burst into a grin when his char-
acter steps on screen.

Even the real detectives are 

almost as absurd as Gently. 
Everyone seems to be after Dirk 
Gently for one reason or anoth-
er. The CIA, the FBI, two bum-
bling Black Ops, the local cops 
and a crazed holistic assassin all 
seem to have it in for Mr. Gen-
tly, for reasons unknown to us at 
this point in the season. Howev-
er, these colliding plot lines indi-
cate a direction for the show, 
which is a promising thought 
after just the first episode of 
the season. Who is the holis-
tic assassin? What happened to 
the girl in the Red Room? Who 
is Dirk Gently, though — real-
ly? The previous questions just 
prove that we’re in for quite the 
show in the coming episodes.

As 
the 
detective-assistant 

crime fighting formula tells us, 
you cannot have a relationship 
between a private investigator 
and their assistant without first 
dragging in an unwilling par-
ticipant.

It is in this manner that Todd 

finds himself thrown (quite lit-
erally) into the absurd world of 
the time traveller Dirk Gently. 
Desperately needing the money 
to fund the care for his sister’s 
delicate psychological condi-
tion, Todd reluctantly agrees 
to follow Gently around on his 
crime-solving escapades.

However, secret organiza-

tions and assassins aside, there 
are still a hundred and two 
other forces threatening to tear 
the duo apart — even if the uni-
verse seems intent on keeping 
them together. All of this may 
seem like a lot to swallow after 
only the first episode of the sea-
son, but direction is everything 
and “Dirk Gently” is certainly 
on the path to becoming a suc-
cessful crime-com for the mod-
ern day Sherlock enthusiast.

MEGAN MITCHELL

Daily Arts Writer

‘Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective 
Agency’ is an eccentric crime-com

Elijah Wood’s new BBC show puts a twist on the old mystery genre

TV REVIEW

I 

have a confession to make: 
I should have written this 
a long time ago. And I’ve 

been thinking about doing so for 
months now, balancing on the 
edge between action and inac-
tion, resolution and hesitance. 
But I waited, caught up in the 
tide of life, busy with study and 
art. About a week ago, I real-
ized that I should wait for a very 
specific amount of 
time. I should wait 
until now. Today is 
almost exactly three 
months to the day 
since the Finnish 
composer Einojuhani 
Rautavaara died, and 
I have some things 
to say.

There is a running 

joke of sorts amongst 
some of my col-
leagues at The Michigan Daily 
— namely, it’s often remarked 
that I’m the person who can be 
relied upon to write about dead 
composers. This is undeniably 
true — after all, with my strong 
interest in classical music, I 
write an awful lot about com-
posers who have been dead for 
decades or more. But this isn’t 
what they mean when they say 
I write about dead composers. 
They mean that I write about 
our world’s recently deceased 
artists, the composers who were 
among us and then suddenly 
aren’t anymore. And I suppose 
I’m well-suited for it, having 
both the requisite knowledge 
base and the melancholic tem-
perament. Last winter I wrote 
about Boulez and Bassett, feel-
ing that they were people who 
deserved a moment of our atten-
tion, a little piece of silence away 
from the noise of existence. 
When I heard of Rautavaara’s 
death, this summer I knew that 
he deserved the same.

I wouldn’t characterize Rau-

tavaara as an extremely popular 
or well-known composer, but 
among those who were familiar 
with his work, he was loved. 
When I heard of his death this 
summer, I was in Paris studying 
music with a number of fellow 
composers — unsurprisingly, 
that night there was a large sec-
tion of dinner-table conversation 
dedicated to Rautavaara, and 
among us there wasn’t a single 
negative opinion. Such was the 
breadth of his appeal; within a 
group of composers, a disparate 
handful with interests and aes-
thetics ranging from modernism 
to minimalism to traditional 
tonalism, Rautavaara had some-
thing for everyone. And I think 

this is because, over the course 
of his 87 years, it was almost as 
if Rautavaara was several differ-
ent composers.

Not everyone knows this, but 

the word “retrospective” actu-
ally has two definitions. The 
first is common usage of “look-
ing back,” but the second deals 
specifically with surveying the 
life’s work of a particular art-

ist. In Rautavaara’s 
case, there is a lot 
to talk about. Ever 
evolving, Rautavaara 
wrote both music that 
is atonal and serial-
ist, and music that is 
lusciously tonal and 
Romantic in senti-
ment. But, at least to 
my ears, one of the 
most striking aspects 
of Rautavaara’s music 

is its remarkable Finnishness.

Finland isn’t famous for its 

composers — over the course 
of its history, there have been 
maybe only a handful who have 
entered the mass conscious-
ness of what we’d call Western 
civilization. Even I, with a 
significantly larger than aver-
age knowledge of the field, can 
name only a few, most of whom 
are active today (including Kaija 
Saariaho, whom I adore and 
wholly recommend seeking out). 
The titan of Finnish classical 
music is the great symphonist 
Jean Sibelius, and it was this 
“greatest Finnish composer” 
who was an early champion of a 
young Rautavaara’s work, a man 
who in recent weeks has been 
lauded as “the greatest Finnish 
composer since Sibelius.” Tak-
ing these two greats together, 
though focusing on the latter, 
one can hear some of the funda-
mental characteristics of Finn-
ish classical.

Finland is a country caught 

between worlds. A nation asso-
ciated with — yet distinct from 
— Scandinavian culture, it also 
bears strong influences from 
its eastern neighbor, Russia. At 
the crossroads of the Cold War, 
Finland balanced in an awkward 
position of neutrality, remaining 
independent of both NATO and 
the Warsaw Pact while the Sovi-
et Union simultaneously stuck 
its hands into Finland’s politics. 
German politicians of the day 
even coined a neologism for this 
type of practice — Finlandiza-
tion. On top of all that, Finland 
counterintuitively speaks a lan-
guage whose closest relative is 
Hungarian.

All of this can be heard in 

Rautavaara’s music. Or at least, 

in an abstract sense it can be. 
Like his compatriot Sibelius, 
Rautavaara composed large-
scale orchestral works in the 
dramatic vein of the great Ger-
man symphonists (Brahms, 
Bruckner, Mahler and the like) 
that also embraced a sound 
world that is often described as a 
“brooding Nordic atmosphere.”

But when listening to a work 

like “Symphony No. 7, ‘Angel 
of Light’ ” for instance, one 
can’t help but notice a striking 
similarity to the Soviet com-
poser Dmitri Shostakovich in 
the orchestrations and colors. 
You can find this sort of cross-
cultural influence everywhere. 
Rautavaara’s early opera “Kai-
vos” is loosely based on Soviet 
policy during the Hungarian 
uprising of 1956, but its musical 
language is distinctly Western — 
throughout the opera, he sounds 
quite close to the aesthetic of the 
Second Viennese School, a man-
ner of writing that at that time 
was dominant in European and 
American universities, yet never 
took hold in Russia. Specifically, 
he reminds one of the supple and 
expressive atonality of Berg, and 
he was directed influenced by 
Schoenberg’s opera “Moses und 
Aron.”

Rautavaara himself was well 

aware of this dichotomy — writ-
ing in the foreword to the score 
for his “Missa a cappella,” he 
notes “I was born and live in 
a country on the borderline 
between East and West: Fin-
land, between the Orthodox and 
Roman Catholic/Lutheran reli-
gions.” The reason he includes 
mention of this in the score 
for a mass was because he had 
already written an Orthodox 
Vigil. To balance this with a 
piece of Catholicism seemed 
only fitting.

But whatever the pushes and 

pulls on his music are, no mat-
ter what you listen to, it remains 
uniquely his own. Despite the 
numerous influences, when you 
listen to Rautavaara, it is always 
Rautavaara as an individual 
you hear. Whether you put on 
Rautavaara the modernist, or 
Rautavaara the neo-Romantic 
tonalist, it’s always his voice. 
From the bleakness of “Kaivos” 
to the sweeping drama of “Piano 
Concerto No. 1,” to his concerto 
for arctic birds, “Cantus Arcti-
cus,” Rautavaara remains Rau-
tavaara. And he will be missed.

Hare is waiting for 

another composer to die. 

If death is imminent, email 

haredayt@umich.edu.

A Rautavaara 
retrospective

Remembering the late composer, beloved in the musical community

CLASSICAL MUSIC COLUMN

Scrunchies and acid-washed 

jean jackets aren’t the only 
trends from the ’80s that are 
making their way back into 
pop culture relevancy. The Pre-
tenders, a rock band that origi-
nated in the late ’80s, have just 
released their newest album, 

Alone, and it’s a surprisingly 
prime example of why throw-
backs can sometimes work.

This album’s main strength 

comes from the fact that lead 
singer and main songwriter 
Chrissie Hynde breathed new 
life into an old label. Through a 
synergy of messy guitar chords 
and subtle hints of electronic 
influences, Alone turns your 

life into an afterschool special, 
and while not every song on this 
album upholds the same level of 
quality, they all serve to remind 
the listener that New Wave 
punk rock can still hold its own 
in today’s music world.

Alone commences on the 

titular opening track, “Alone,” 
which wastes no time in demon-
strating that the Pretenders are 

B

Alone

The Pretenders

BMG

BMG

They don’t look alone to us.
’80s new-wave pioneer rockers the 
Pretenders return with solid ‘Alone’

Chrissie Hynde’s group proves that rock ‘n’ roll will never die

ALBUM REVIEW
back and have lost none of their 
charm. This song is a strange 
conglomeration of vocals that 
are half speaking/half singing 
with upbeat, popping harmo-
nies. “Alone” is simultaneously 
both the rose and the thorns, 
with “absolutely fuck off” over 
a light background of jangling 
rhythms. Charming in the way 
it couldn’t seem to care less 
about your opinion, “Alone” 
is the perfect introduction to 
other 
songs 
in 

this 
album. 
It 

paves 
the 
road 

to songs such as 
“Roadie 
Man” 

and “Gotta Wait,” 
with 
reminders 

that the Pretend-
ers will still be 
cooler than you, no matter what 
year it is.

“Roadie Man” appears to 

draw influences from singers 
like Norah Jones. It inspires a 
Sunday morning mood through 
Hynde’s silver-tongued croon-
ing over slow and steady back-
ground melodies. This song’s 
honey-smooth finish directly 
contrasts “Gotta Wait,” which 
features choppy guitar notes 
and a driving beat. Yet, despite 
this divergence, these songs are 
constant in the fact that they 
showcase the very best of what 
the Pretenders can do with 
their well-developed sound.

Songs like “Alone,” Roadie 

Man” and “Gotta Wait” from 
Alone are very reminiscent of 
older songs like “Message of 
Love” or “Brass in Pocket.” 
They show that even after 
almost 40 years, Hynde still 
manages to uphold the mellow, 
buoyant vibes that were so icon-
ic in the ’80s.

However, as with any blast 

from the past, there runs a risk 
of over-sentimentality. Some 
songs in Alone are drawn out 

and 
excessive. 

For 
example, 

“Blue Eyed Sky” 
starts out with 
the clichéd “no 
one understands 
me” and only gets 
worse from there. 
It seems to be 

constantly reaching for some-
thing that isn’t there, which 
makes the song come across as 
empty instead of nonchalantly 
casual.

The same issue is repeated 

in “I Hate Myself.” By the third 
repetition of “I hate myself, I 
hate myself, I hate myself, I hate 
myself,” you already want the song 
to be over and by the sixth repeti-
tion the idea of repeatedly bang-
ing your head against the nearest 
table is looking more and more 
appealing. 
This 
unwarranted, 

drawn-out sappiness continues in 
“Death Is Not Enough,” complete 
with over-done comparisons and 
an achingly slow beat.

Alone starts out as a strong 

example of the immortality of 
New Wave rock but then slowly 
dissolves into a directionless, 
maudlin jumble of empty songs. 
Only the final song, “Holy Com-
motion,” redeemed the album’s 
end. Rousing and rejuvenating, 
with a snazzy electronic key-
board in the background pro-
viding a unique twist, “Holy 
Commotion” is a blend of the 
old and the new: Hynde’s time-
less voice carrying remnants 
of where the Pretenders came 
from 
while 
the 
disjointed, 

complex composition of the 
song itself carrying an omen of 
where the Pretenders can go in 
the future.

Alone is a revival of an old 

brand. The Pretenders’ old 
rhythms, tunes and harmonies 
have been recycled and upgrad-
ed, creating an unexpected 
blend of nostalgia and intrigue 
that works for a majority of the 
album. What the Pretenders 
should be wary about is becom-
ing stuck in the past and sub-
sequently creating songs that 
lose originality in their repeti-
tive 
templates 
and 
saccha-

rine sound. However, despite 
these difficulties encountered 
in Alone, it is, overall, a strong 
album. Neil Young was right; 
rock ‘n’ roll will never die, and if 
all its revivals come in the form 
of Alone, that isn’t really some-
thing to complain about. 

A-

“Dirk Gently’s 

Holistic Detective 

Agency”

Series Premiere

BBC America

Saturdays at 9 p.m.

SHIMA SADAGHIYANI

Daily Arts Writer

DAYTON

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