Rob Price
Gutbrain Records
rob + gutbrain.com = email


2018 March 26 • Monday

For the 510th Soundtrack of the Week we return to the great Alex North and his music for The Bad Seed.

This rich and complex score is an engrossing listening experience. The cues are extremely suggestive of mood, character and story and while the music must be among the most cinematic ever composed it would be equally at home in the concert hall.

The main title theme suggest danger and horror, panic and violence, with a frantic orchestra spinning and stabbing in various directions, with an unexpected clear space for a subtle jazzy atmosphere.

Most of the other cues are exquisitely drawn out miniature symphonies that exploit orchestral color for a succession of different musical worlds.

The piano seems to be used as a child's voice, coming in with a quirky energy and playing lilting nursery rhyme-ish lines.

Some of the cues might remind you of music from the original Star Trek television show, while "No More Children" is a hauntingly delicate and lovely piece of music.