Dark Music Review – It Follows Soundtrack
Written by Casey Douglass
It’s rare for me to
watch a film and feel that the soundtrack was something that really
demanded attention. That’s not to diminish the role of sound in
films, it’s just a way of showing how my mind works. I watched the
brilliant horror film It Follows a few days ago (you can read
my review on Amongst Geeks here) and was immediately struck by the soundtrack. It was
sinister, novel and dark as hell. The musician behind the It
Follows soundtrack is Rich Vreeland aka Disasterpeace, a
knowledgeable and prolific videogame music creator in the chiptune /
8-bit genres.
I have to hold up my
hands and admit that this isn’t a genre of music that I usually
listen to, although I can appreciate the work that goes into it.
Sounds are designed to sound like (or actually are) played through
the retro sound chips of older computers and game consoles, giving
them those nostalgia inducing Mario or Metroid type
pangs that take you back to your childhood. Judging by his Bandcamp
releases at least, It Follows looks like it might be his
darkest work of recent times, which is what piqued my interest. While
the album isn’t classified as dark ambient, I think it certainly
could be.
What you’ll get if
you listen to the soundtrack is the mental equivalent of being
buffeted at sea. A good number of the tracks alternate quieter
booming rumblings and harsh high pitched screeching tones, lulling
you and then jarring you moments later. My hands down favourite track
has to be Title, partly because the main rhythmic tone
arrangement puts me in mind of the famous shower scene music from
Psycho. It also has a hook-laden chorus that rattled around my
head for at least 24 hours after hearing it.
As with all great
albums, there are the lighter, smoother tracks along with the harsh.
Jay is one such track, an almost sunlight infused track that
is slower and, if not outright tranquil, the sinister undertones are
less than other tracks. Detroit is another example of a
quieter track, but even though it is less frantic, it still conveys
feelings of fear and sadness.
One grandstanding track
that features a little of everything is Company. The tone at
the start of this track sounds a little like bagpipes being softly
abused. It goes quiet and hollow echoing thuds emerge, a high-pitched
whining noise grating over the top of them. A deep rumble joins when
the whining ends and everything holds its breath. A warped tone
sounds over everything again, like a kettle boiling but off kilter
and harsh. The deeper distortion behind it sounds a little like
horses galloping. The track fades to a kind of ‘electro agitation’
that seems to charge the air, before a quieter tone suggests itself
in the silence as it leaves. All goes quiet once more before the
quieter tone looms again with a more gentle bass sound. The track
ends violently with very harsh sounds distorting and shrieking for
the last few seconds. Quite an experience.
Being a soundtrack
album, many of the tracks are no more than a couple of minutes long,
some less than one minute. This makes sure that no one track or
soundscape outstays its welcome and as a listener, this keeps you
more alert and interested, even as some of the melody based segments
follow the same general scheme.
Even though it appears
I’m a pretty easy to please reviewer, partly due to only reviewing
stuff that interests me anyway, giving out full marks has only
happened a few times over the last few years. The It Follows
soundtrack can join the handful of albums that have wormed their way
into my mind as I’m giving it 5/5. From a personal
perspective, it’s something a little different to what I usually
listen to but that still manages to take me to that dark place that I
like my more ambient music to take me. The chiptune / 8-bit
underpinnings appeal very much to my geeky videogame playing side
whilst the drones and bass appeal to my dark world creating fiction
side. A complete performance I guess you could say.
If any of what I’ve
said has intrigued you, you can check out Disasterpeace’s website
here and pick the It Follows soundtrack up for not much money
at all. I also urge you to go and see It Follows while its at
the cinema, or buy it when it is released for home viewing.
I was given a free
copy of the album for review.
Album Title: It Follows
Music by: Disasterpeace
Mastered by: Christian
Dwiggins
Artwork by: Midnight
Marauder
Producers: Richard
Glasser, JC Chamboredon & Stefan Karrer
Release date: 10th
March 2015
