John Carpenter: Lost Themes IV - Noir
An album review of the latest offering by John Carpenter with his son Cody, and godson, Daniel Davies
John Carpenter
Lost Themes IV: Noir
Sacred Bones
A decade ago now, John Carpenter released the first in what is now a 4-part series, but what at the time might have been the product of frustration. Carpenter, a legend across the 70s and 80s for his horror, action, and sci-fi films, was known also for contributing the scores to most of them. In recent years he’s continued to score the Halloween reboots, and other films (Firestarter) but isn’t concerned with making films — he had ranted in a few interviews that no one would trust him to make the sort of movies he used to make, that there was no audience for them any longer, and perhaps most importantly and most likely, that there was just no chance of getting them financed.
So he started to make imaginary soundtracks. He toured playing the actual cues from all those legendary films — and when he, and son Cody, and godson Daniel Davies (son of Dave Davies of Kinks fan, and a collaborator of Carpenter back in the 1980s) needed some new material to tour behind, they got creative.
Enter Lost Themes.
And look, I’ve loved (and reviewed) them all:
After the second volume, they took on subtitles. So, following 2021’s Alive After Death we now have Lost Themes IV: Noir.
To be sure it could live up to its name, I took it for a night-drive. I’ve loved all of the other Lost Themes albums out on the road, and most of Carpenter’s actual soundtracks, and most definitely his Anthology volumes that cherry pick the highlights, both the recent re-recordings, and the original compilation featuring the actual movie cues from their first time out on the block. It’s the perfect music for me, evoking the scenes, and moods, and these Lost Themes albums have a lot of ‘driving’ guitar with the piano and synths in support.
Certainly lead single and opening track My Name Is Death is a great kick-starter. And I think of bands inspired by Carpenter’s music, such as Dance With The Dead and Zombi, and the Carpenter/Davies/Carpenter trio is now starting to sound like them as much as they’re forever sounding like themselves.
My Name Is Death has an undulating bass line and guitar riff that it pulses in behind, subtly ominous as it builds.
Machine Fear is next, giving hints of the great 5/4 motifs that Carpenter built for the first three Halloween films. And his stately playing is clear and feels like perfect ‘horror’ piano. Last Rites is almost poppy with its lite-metal hook, before The Burning Door returns us to the ghostly piano-led intrigue.
These three can write this music in their sleep now, even if it gives off the sorts of vibes where no one could possibly sleep after hearing it. It’s a perfect continuation of the sound they set up, over a decade ago. Those original Lost Themes coming from ideas for films, and leftover snippets of cues, now it’s about Carpenter and his young band mates just effortlessly assuming the position, slipping into the role.
He Walks By Night feels concert-ready, and a future classic, where Kiss The Blood Off My Fingers almost has Kraftwerk-ian pulse to it. I’m loving the piano on this album more than the guitars, particularly the return to such solid motifs (Guillotine, Beyond The Gallows, Shadows Have A Thousand Eyes).
Most of the instrumental songs here are traced by thin shading synth lines. They give depth to the music. I’m reminded, at times, of Charles Bernstein’s score for the original A Nightmare On Elm Street film. I’ve never thought Carpenter was circling there previously. But it’s most certainly meant as recommendation for the album, and compliment of the sound. But mostly, winningly, Carpenter, so idiosyncratic as filmmaker, continues to sound exactly like himself. His music, strikingly, ready for his own films once again, as soon as he ever wants to return to that world.
It’s early days for me and Lost Themes IV but it’s already, and instantly, on the regular-rotate. And I love it.
