Rob Price
Gutbrain Records
rob + gutbrain.com = email

2023 October 09 • Monday

For the 799th Soundtrack of the Week we have something more unusual: The Real Tuesday Weld's Songs for The Last Werewolf, which is sort of a soundtrack for Glen Duncan's novel of the same name.

The first track, "It's Time", is a short piece that does sound like it's from a film score, moody and suspenseful, before the record changes gears with the post-Stooges howler "Wolfman". The lyrics mention full moons and danger and the blistering electric instruments are joined by strings.

"The Lupine Waltz" is a simple and pretty solo piano piece in waltz time with some Satie-like harmonies, while "(I Always Kill) The Things I Love" is more of a cross between swing-era small jazz combo and Beach Boys love song, with tender vocals and clarinet playing.

Then it's a return to shadowy long tones and gentle but insistent electric percussion for "Time of the Month", another very soundtracky piece.

Club beats, what sounds like synth horns and the occasional bit of sung/spoken words make up "Love Lust Money", after which comes "The Ghosts", a song in 3/4 with lyrics sung by a male vocalist and delicate accompaniment by piano and other instruments.

"Room Service" is a short jazz instrumental for acoustic guitar and violin with bass and drums, with a Django/Stephane sort of feel.

The same guitar opens "The Hunt", which is a brisk vocal number that combines swing jazz sounds and rhythms with electro-dance elements and harmonized vocals a la Andrews Sisters.

A real dance pop number comes next for "Tear us Apart", a title that presumably has at least two meanings for werewolves. It actually does sound a tiny bit like the famous Joy Division song.

A slow, moody, piano-drive song comes next, "Save Me", which has a female vocalist singing to someone that they can save her anytime.

"I Don't Lik It, I Love It" is a another very short atmospheric cue with an upper register ethereal ostinato, followed by another swing jazzy pop song, "Me and Mr. Wolf", this one a duet for the male and female vocalist.

An airy and slightly melancholy piano waltz, "A Moment Allowed", comes next, followed by "Come Around", a slow and sad vocal number that begins with the sounds of morse code being tapped out before gentle guitar, violin, piano, rhythm section and some other more atmospheric sounds drift in.

Then there's another short "mood" cue, "What You Are", which isn't too far from Angelo Badalamenti territory.

"You're Going To Live" is a straight up indie pop song with a lush texture to it.

A mixture of samples and electronic instruments create a kind of post-Vangelis landscape for "The Cruellest Month" and then the record concludes with the seven minute-long mid-tempo pop song "Let It Come Down", which mixes elements of a few different genres with enchanting results.