LEGENDARY film music writer John Carpenter still has so much to say; so many eerie atmospheres to evoke.
The composer of such industry-standard soundtracks as the Halloween series, The Fog and Christine is back early in the new year with a new album for Sacred Bones; and he’s released a single to both prickle the hairs and move the adductors in “The Dead Walk”, the video for which is below.
It’s his first album not composed for the big screen in almost five years and it’s entitled Lost Themes III: Alive After Death.
… although, of course, you’re never from that cinematic sweep and scope, as “The Dead Walk” sweeps all before it on Notre Dame organ, before growing crunchy rock guitar horns to accompany that trademark synth chatter and blur.
This in the third in the Lost Themes series; John famously called the first instalment in 2015 “a soundtrack for the movies in your mind.”
These days John prefers to work in a trio, with his twin left-hand men being Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies; they’ve created together since that first Lost Themes in 2015.
John says: “We begin with a theme, a bassline, a pad, something that sounds good and will lead us to the next layer. We then just keep adding on from there.
“We understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses, how to communicate without words, and the process is easier now than it was in the beginning.
“We’ve matured.”
Lost Themes III: Alive After Death will be released by Sacred Bones on February 5th and is available to pre-order here; there’s a bewitching array of vinyl pressings, including a Sacred Bones mail order exclusive red, black and white edition; a Zia Records cloudy purple pressing; a Rough Trade red and blue starburst; and a Sacred Bones subscriber-only ‘gold nugget’ version. There are others. Seek ye in the depths; but tread warily.
Follow John at Bandcamp, his official website, on Twitter, on Instagram, and on Facebook.
