I know, it’s already mid-January and yet this series is only up to September. It’s painful to be trapped in the past… The upside is that September saw some great scores, including the fantastic intimate-medieval score to Medieval from Philip Klein and one of the best scores of the year, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis’s score for Blonde (as well as a number of excellent horror entries). As always, if you think I’ve missed any scores from this month (or any past months), leave a comment or get in touch and I’ll check them out!

Once again there were (as always) too many scores released this month for me to me to cover! Make sure to scroll to the end of this article for a list of even more September scores to check out!

Have a quick read about each of these excellent scores below then give them a listen. Be sure to see what other scores you may have missed by reading past editions of this column or listen to me talk about some of these releases:

Medieval – Philip Klein

In the last couple of years, Philip Klein has cemented himself as one of best, most versatile film composers that no one’s heard of yet. He turned some heads with his second feature score, the war drama The Last Full Measure, before moving into a folkier sound in Pig and a fantasy feel in Wish Dragon. His latest, Medieval, sees Klein try his hand at a pure, well, medieval score. Unlike comparable scores, Klein opts for a narrower focus. While there are huge, epic sounds that channel large scale battles or showcase massive-sounding Gregorian choirs, the intimate moments are what stand out. Klein draws out the characters, pulling on their romance, fear, longing, hope. It’s an expert balance between big and small scales, all tied-together with several strong, memorable melodic things as well. Frankly, it has everything the fan of more traditional scores could want. It’s a shame, then, that so few people saw the film, perhaps dooming Klein’s score to be forgotten.

Pearl – Tyler Bates (Interview) and Tim Williams

Pearl serves as the prequel to X, and the movies couldn’t be more musically different. X saw Chelsea Wolfe make her film scoring debut, alongside Tyler Bates, with a score filled with haunting screams, porno funk, and broken dreams. I expected something similar for Pearl. How wrong I was. Bates returns to score the film, this time joined by Tim Williams, and instead manages to merge a lush, romantic Golden Age score with some noisier horror elements. In fact, the opening cue is pure romance, until the last second when the illusion crashes. It’s a genre mash that I never thought I’d hear, but one that works surprisingly well. Now we can only wait and see what bizarre music we get for the series’ next entry.

Blonde – Nick Cave and Warren Ellis (Review)

Despite the amount of film composers nowadays who come from band backgrounds, it’s rare to find composing duos. One glaring exception is Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, a longstanding duo at the forefront of the unorthodox (and the creators of some of my favorite works). They’re back with Blonde, a surreal, fictional glimpse into the life of Marilyn Monroe. The score sits in two extremes, in dream and nightmare, in the deepest reaches of the cosmos and of the internal. Gentle waves become roiling hurricanes. It’s a deft, nuanced look into highs and lows, at the disparities between public perception and private life.

While I haven’t yet finished my list of favorite scores of the year, I can guarantee that Blonde ends up in the top ten. Unfortunately, the film’s divisive and graphic nature has probably caused others to forget about Cave and Ellis’s score, as it’s been absent from nearly all end-of-year lists and awards considerations.

Smile – Cristobal Tapia de Veer

I’m always up for something a little weird, but at first listen I was worried that Cristobal Tapia de Veer’s score for Smile was too much even for me. But after a few listens, I was hooked. The score’s slower, quieter moments lull you into a state of catatonic unease before breaking the stupor with relentless bludgeoning. It carries this sonic assault out not simply with noise, but with unexpected and inexplicable sounds, from unearthly vocalizations to static and alien electronics. By the end, de Veer erases all ambiguity and convinces you you’re going to die.

A Few More Scores

As often happens, there were simply too many great scores released in September to cover, so here are a few more:

  • The Immaculate Room – Steve London
  • Rebel – Hannes de Maeyer
  • Skin Deep – Richard Ruzicka
  • Stammisar – Carl-Johan Sevedag
  • Burning Land – Omri Lahav
  • Le favolose – Tommaso Maresco and Leonardo Rosi
  • Le tigre et le president – Mathieu Lamboley
  • Pinocchio – Alan Silvestri
  • Citoyen d’honneur – Ibrahim Maalouf
  • Don’t Worry Darling – John Powell
  • Forbearance – Giovanni Rotondo
  • Gigi & Nate – Paul Leonard-Morgan
  • Jill – Jonas Buhler
  • See How They Run – Daniel Pemberton (Interview)
  • Une belle course – Philippe Rombi
  • The Woman King – Terence Blanchard
  • Der Parfumeur – Richard Ruzicka
  • The End of Medicine – Aaron Martin
  • Les enfants des autres – Rob
  • Les secrets de mon pere – Elliott Covrigaru
  • Cosmic Dawn – Alan Howarth
  • EO – Pawel Mykietyn
  • Hocus Pocus 2 – John Debney
  • Athena – Gener8ion