John Carpenter is the legendary director and musician extraordinaire of such films as Halloween, The Thing, Escape from LA, Assault on Precinct 13, They Live and The Fog. He is a singular talent and his soundtracks are instantly recognisable with their mix of sinister cold synthy arpeggios and driving beats; his musical style, distinctly his own, has influenced much of pop culture.
His Lost Themes is not a collection of B-sides or left-over tracks from previous endeavours but new original tracks, created in his usual style. Listening to them may allow your mind to wander and imagine images from his ouvre that would suit or for as-yet-unmade films.
The tracks are all uniformly excellent and here is a breakdown of each. Please remember that I am not a music critic and neither do I know the correct terms for the different aspects of musicology but I'll give it a go with the vocab I do have.
From the first track Vortex the atmosphere sucks you in to the dark and gloomy atmospheres reminiscent of Halloween, The Fog, Prince of Darkness and Escape from New York. Vortex is all dark and gloomy with a heavy atmosphere. It has a simple repetitive arpeggio with a driving metronomic synth.
Obsidian feels quite prog rock as it starts with shimmering twinkles and then a gentle synth enters before a roar of electric guitar and heavy drums enter. It then goes a bit gentler before a warbling rhythm adds some much needed weirdness and wonk. This is a classy track all the way through.
Fallen has a driving rhythm which is undercut with a gentler arpeggio, combined with a light synth and a driving sound of a train-like beat. This piece is more airy and light; a flute wafts through the piece. Then, nearly 3 minutes in, it changes tack and goes all mysterious and more hair metalish (thankfully without the terrible singing).
Domain is a strange piece as it has Carpenter's distinct synthy sounds but also parts that make it seem like the credits of an 80s game show before going into 'Phantom of the Opera' church organ grandious pomposity and cheery Jingle Bells mode. Not one for me this track as it is tonally everywhere.
Mystery starts off with a quick organ piece before the cold synthy beats kick in followed by airy and, dare I say, a romantic feeling light sound follows before slowing for dramatic effect. Then, about 3 minutes in, it gets faster, more electric guitar and drums drop and the feel gets creepier and sinister.
Abyss is a lighter start with a more cheerful feel as the instruments don't seem so oppressive. The piano is the main instrument here and it is complimented by the synths, but they all play second fiddle to the piano. (Yes, I'm aware of my clever wordplay thanks!) At about 4 minutes a stacatto beat drops and the piano is complimented by more persistent pacing synths.
Wraith is a great track as it has droplets of sounds with a cool electric guitar wending it's way through the piece. Airy sounds and echoes make the track ethereal and otherworldly.
Purgatory is a slower, more meditative piece with lots of space for the notes to breathe. It is piano centres before a stacatto drum beat raises the tempo somewhat.
Night sounds like how you'd imagine a track named this by Carpenter to sound; it has a persistent dark synthy beat and echoing arpeggios that work their way from left to right and back again to create an unsettling yet cool mood, like Hammer' Crockett's Theme.
Overall, I loved this album as it really is great mood music. I was listening to it reading a dystopian sci-fi book and it worked well to create the atmosphere needed.
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