A slow tracking shot reveals a twilit city closing down for the night. The camera cuts to close up. From his penthouse apartment a lone man is watching Paris through infra red binoculars. He sees everything...

So starts the script to Howie B’s imaginary film, inspired by Bernado Bertolucci’s 1972 classic. But in that movie Marlon Brando’s last act was dancing the tango, not playing bingo. So we caught up with the producer of Björk, U2 and Brian Eno and asked him what exactly is a Bingo?

“It’s anything you want it to be. You can have your last Bingo or you can have your first Bingo,” explains the Scotsman in a light Glaswegian accent. “It’s a time, a moment, or a collection of moments. There are so many connotations to it — numbers, gambling, women sitting in bingo halls... I thought it might be interesting to take a word that everyone thinks they know and make it in to something else. It was interesting for me anyway — I got a whole album out of it.” At that he laughs and shows a silver-capped front tooth not for the last time.

Commissioned by MK2 — better known for their movie theaters than their movie soundtrack CDs — the record is the third in a growing series for Stereo Picture. “MK2 said they wanted me to do a mix album like what Vadim and all those other guys had done [DJ Vadim and French house outfit Troublemakers recorded the first two Stereo Picture compilations]. Then I thought wait a minute, if they’re going to license 15 or 20 other people’s songs, it’s going to cost more than if they pay me to go and do an album of my own.”

So Howie outlined his idea for a score and the project was rolling quicker than he could shout “action.” Already an experienced engineer and producer for film, his credits include the theme tune for Brian de Palma’s “Mission Impossible” and “The End of Violence” by Wim Wenders. “I started my apprenticeship in the ’80s in a film studio owned by Stanley Myers and Hans Zimmer. That’s where my joy for working with pictures came from and it was when I first realized the power of music. You watch a film with no music and then you put something underneath it and it’s like pow! It makes more sense and it gives more depth, more width, more feeling, more emotion.”

Howie’s own score incorporates an equally sentimental and dynamic sound. Check the bouncy bass line on “88” and imagine two fat ladies ambling along, or the break-beat cut-ups on “Leaving Home,” the distorted guitar licks on “Chase,” both tracks distilling tension, fear and despair. “Cab Journey” is purely piano and according to Howie “is one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever done. It’s intense too,” he adds, “because it was a real journey in a cab where I was going from a hotel in République to Montmartre and I had like eight phone calls, each one worse and worse.” Are there any plans to commit the film to celluloid?

“No. What I like doing is creating facts. My dream would be to do a feature, but not yet. I’m a big admirer of people who know how to master their art and that’s what I’m doing my best to get better at right now.” Howie B “Last Bingo In Paris” (MK2 Music), out June 1