Rob Price
Gutbrain Records
rob + gutbrain.com = email

2022 September 19 • Monday

For the 744th Soundtrack of the Week we listened to another Popol Vuh score for a Werner Herzog movie, this time Cobra Verde.

It starts with “Der Tod des Cobra Verde”, a lush choral piece with a subtle, hypnotic guitar line beneath the blend of voices. A delicate keyboard line and guitar line emerge from the atmosphere at various points.

“Nachts: Schnee” is an ambient piece with a cloudy, tenebrous quality at first, brightening gradually as it goes.

Another droney, pensive soundscape follows in “Der Marktplatz”, this time adding sparse, resonant percussion to the mix.

Long synth tones start “Eine andere Welt”. They fade out and fade back in, modulating slightly.

Synth tones also dominate “Grab der Mutter”, another slowly billowing atmospheric piece, this one with a Vangelis Blade Runner-like feel. Then chorus and guitar come in, reprising “Der Tod des Cobra Verde”.

The mood and textures shift for the piano-driven “Om Mani Padme Hum 4”, a pretty composition with guitars and synth adding color and thickness to the gently swirling and arpeggiating piano lines. Eventually the chorus comes in to make it lusher and more ethereal.

“Sieh nicht übern Meer ist’s” is a short, eerie cue that mixes electric instruments with a somewhat distressed and keening chorus to unsettling effect.

Then there’s the nine and a half minute “Hab’ Mut, bis dasse die Nacht mit Ruh’ und Stille kommt”, which starts with piano and guitars that sound like tambura. It fills this space and there are some nice touches and the faintest intensifying.

The album wraps up with a solo piano version of “Om Mani Padme Hum 4”, a mesmerizing loop of a pretty, major key motif.