Our Exquisite Replica of "Eternity"

2003 truck stop cologne dispenser containing the fragrance^[1]

Lyrics

(instrumental)

Chronology

Upgrade & Afterlife

Retrospectives

David Grubbs, 2023

24 years after Jim O'Rourke and I gave permission for "Our Exquisite Replica of Eternity" to be used in Hal Hartley's "The Book of Life," I finally saw the film -- fittingly, on P.J. Harvey's birthday. Favorite moment: P.J. Harvey singing "To Sir with Love" at Tower Records.^[2]
Around this time, friends who saw P.J. Harvey live said that "Our Exquisite Replica" was played over the PA before she took the stage. (She was present for Gastr del Sol's first UK show -- opening for Shellac.)^[3]
[...] They didn’t send us a copy — so I didn’t know until tonight that part of the Gastr track was overlaid with a piece of drum and bass. It’s used pretty prominently — maybe two or more minutes of the track?^[4]

Interpretations

"Eternity" is a perfume created by Calvin Klein in 1988. "Our Exquisite Replica of 'Eternity'" is a knockoff that appeared in gas station bathroom perfume dispensers in the 1990s.^[5] David Grubbs states that he peeled the sticker off the perfume dispenser and "gave it to Drag City for a Gastr t-shirt"^[6]
Contains a sample from the score of the science fiction film The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)^[7]
Appears in Hal Hartley's film The Book of Life (1998)

References

[1] ttps://twitter.com/MaxKriegerVG/status/1092447172480679936

[2] ttps://twitter.com/blackfaurest/status/1711917366974587198

[3] ttps://twitter.com/blackfaurest/status/1711917420749746265

[4] ttps://twitter.com/blackfaurest/status/1711922429894054097

[5] ttps://twitter.com/blackfaurest/status/569882280438714369

[6] ttps://twitter.com/blackfaurest/status/569882700775088128

[7] ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ROhf-hDGYU

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