I was initially skeptical about Girl on the Third Floor – how good could the music to a CM Punk-starring horror film be? But my interest grew when I saw that legendary punk musician and producer Steve Albini was involved. All my doubt turned out to be unwarranted. Albini, Alison Chesley, and Tim Midyett created the heaviest, most metal score since Mandy. It is suffocating and draining drone, an absolutely unstoppable monolith that crushes everything in its path. This style will absolutely bore most listeners, who may be equally turned off by its relative minimal instrumentation (relying largely on cello and guitar), but those brave few will be floored then flattened by this slab of immense doom.
Tamar-kali’s score to Shirley is a slow, spiritual awakening. Short snippets of discord and droning violin give way to a chorus of female vocals, giving a voice to the film’s main characters. They harmonize, conflict, or go their separate ways entirely; a microcosm of these characters’ relationships, personalities, and trajectories. It is a brilliant, novel experiment, further cementing Tamar-kali as a great, newer film composer.
Jonathan Goldsmith’s score for Dreamland defies categorization, seemingly moving between genre and tone at whim. At any given moment it can be ominous and droning, or a hellish and nightmare-fueled trumpet solo, or excerpts from a distorted and eerie club. What it may lack in continuity it makes up for in creativity and experimentation, becoming effectively a demo reel for Goldsmith’s skill and versatility.
Two Composers Make Their Debuts
Horror-comedy anthology Scare Package makes the interesting choice of each segment having a different crew while sharing the same composer: Alex Cuervo. Cuervo does an excellent job making his largely retro synth score unique and specifically tailored to each short, avoiding the pitfall of each segment sounding too similar. The score is fun, tense, and full of driving, pounding electronic cues, the best among them being “Rad Chad’s Horror Emporium,” whose main synth melody is infectiously catchy with a dark undertone, capturing the essence of the entire anthology.
The documentary Ma Voix T’Accompagnera (My Voice Will Accompany You) follows two well-known specialists in the field of surgical hypnosis. Appropriately, Loup Mormont’s score consists of gentle, repetitive electronic motifs to slowly lull the listener into a calming hypnosis. Despite nearly a decade in media-scoring, Ma Voix T’Accompagnera is Mormont’s first feature-length score – hopefully it leads to more opportunities in the future.