For many, John Carpenter is a guy who made horror films. Yes, most of his films are in the horror genre, but he was equally good at comedy, adventure,, suspense, and science fiction. Not only that, but he was a great auteur on these films. As if making a film was not enough work in and of itself, John Carpenter frequently composed and recorded the soundtracks to his films. These scores were often as memorable as the films themselves. When someone mentions Halloween, how can one not hear those suspenseful piano notes spring to mind. When you think of Escape From New York, how can you not hear those futuristic, synth rhythms.
It is now 2015 and we now have John Carpenter's first solo non-soundtrack album, Lost Themes. These are instrumental, synthesizer driven motifs with single word titles for the listener's imagination to build a vision or movie in their own head. These songs easily sit side-by-side with his soundtrack work and the works of his modern contemporaries such as Zombi.
The opening track, "Vortex," begins with sounds and noises reminiscent of the Ligeti prologue of 2001: A Space Odyssey. These grumblings are silenced by simple, naked piano chords playing the track's theme. The synthesizers come in with a pulsating beat and guitars similar to Tangerine Dream's soundtrack to Thief. The trademark John Carpenter sounds are all here. For me, this track in particular conjures images of Kurt Russell wearing an eye patch in a post-apocalyptic future. This is my favorite track on the album right now and I would direct you to test the waters by listening to it.
"Obsidian" follows and could easily be the background music for a Castlevania game. As the longest track on the LP, the song goes into different moods that cohesively fit together as if telling a wordless story. "Fallen" has a touch more of a science fiction feel to it and the driving beat of the second half is great. "Domain" is a straight up synth rock number that I also feel could lend itself to the world of Castlevania. "Mystery" is a very fitting title. The opening chimes do evoke a feeling of mystery and the heavy guitar and drums in the latter half feels like your exploring an old abandoned house. "Abyss" has a similar air of mystery for the first half of the song, but switches to a more science fiction atmosphere before a huge synth pulse theme begins hammering with some tasteful guitar licks. "Wraith" begins like a latter day Skinny Puppy track with synths that sound like water dropping into puddles. There is a lot of nice guitar on this track. "Purgatory" is sorrowful and soft for the first half and then the drums come in and the song takes a tangent into Escape From New York territory. The final song, "Night" has a fantastic bass synth chug and when the background synths come in against the main theme you can almost see the fog rise from the darkness.
Yes, I am a long time John Carpenter fan.
Yes, I love his soundtrack work.
Yes, I lament his absence from moviemaking.
Yes, I think this new LP is superb.
Here is hoping there is more where this music came from and that it may revitalize his film career.
Keep listening and thank you for reading this.
By the way, John Carpenter's The Thing is the greatest horror/suspense film ever made.
No comments:
Post a Comment