“Kurt Cobain About a Son: Music From the Motion Picture” (Barsuk)

“Kurt Cobain About a Son: Music From the Motion Picture” (Barsuk)

The sound track to the documentary “Kurt Cobain About a Son” purports to be a close approximation of a mix tape the tragically troubled Nirvana front man might have made for a friend or lover to share ideas, emotions and philosophies.

The film, opening in limited release in October, is Cobain’s story told by the plaidclad grunge god himself, taken from 25 hours of audiotaped interviews conducted by Michael Azerrad for his book, “Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana,” and merged with moody, overcast imagery of the three cities in Washington state key to Cobain’s life: Aberdeen, Olympia and Seattle.

Only brief snippets of Cobain’s observations are heard on the sound track disc between songs that range all the way from Arlo Guthrie’s satirical folk and the early glam of David Bowie to the more contemporary influences of Bad Brains, Half Japanese, Mudhoney and Mark Lanegan.

It remains to be seen how revealing director A.J. Schnack’s film will be, but without the running firstperson narration and imagery, mixing Cobain’s boyhood favorites with his adult music of choice only makes for an oddly mismatched, variousartist assortment that few casual listeners will find wholly satisfying.

— Gene Triplett