With Folk Horror and all things hauntological being very much in vogue, this is a timely release.
Following on from the re-imagined soundtracks to Vampyr (2017) and The Tenant (2018) the Swedish trio summon up a suitably spectral atmosphere for a musical interpretation of 'Whistle And I’ll Come To You'.
This score is inspired by a 42 minute film directed by Jonathan Miller in 1968 which was the first of the BBC’s Ghost Stories for Christmas. It starred Michael Hordern as the eccentric, pompus and self-absorbed Professor Parkin. Miller introduced teh film as a tale of “solitude and terror”.
In the story, Parkin discovers an ancient whistle while walking in an overgrown coastal cemetery. This bears a Latin inscription, which translates as ‘Who is this who is coming’and lowing it summons up a ghostly spirit. This is conveyed in the film by little more than rumpled sheets but this still manages to create a scary impact.
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There was no music in Miller’s film, just eerie bumps, cries and whispers. Death And Vanilla live score was recorded at the Hypnos Theatre in Malmö and effectively conveys the spooky ambience of the original film.
They achieve this through slowed down percussive effects and creating a series of what sound like haunted lullabies. Only synthesized wails on Nightmares resemble a more conventional horror soundtrack. A mood of creeping menace is the goal.
There can be no greater praise than to say that this is an album that the late, lamented Broadcast would have been proud to put their name to.
Bandcamp link
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