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MP3: Chasing Ghosts (2005)
 
   
   
Review Rating:   Very Good  
 
   
Label:
MovieScore Media
 
Catalog #:
MMS06014
 
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C
Format:
Stereo
Released:

November 7, 2006

Tracks / Album Length:

26 / (67:31)

 

 
   
Composer: Scott Glasgow
   

Special Notes:

 
 
 
Comments :    

Unlike the cat-and-mouse tension within a standard horror film, murder mysteries with serial killers can offer a broader range of material for a composer to draw from - victims, affected relations, a tormented detective - if the characters go beyond the clichés, and the story explores more realistic trauma.

That's certainly the impression one gets from Scott Glasgow's score, which the composer describes as multi-thematic, although what's really intriguing is the overall sound he's chosen to employ. Recorded with the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Glasgow's cues are a mercurial in the way sounds drift from traditional orchestral to electronic textures, and while some cues, like "Main Title," mimic electronic rhythmic patterns and atonal progressions, others have slight synth sweetening, blurring the terrain where electronic and orchestral sounds coalesce.

Glasgow 's background includes associations with Elia Cmiral and Christopher Young, so he's more than comfortable drawing out harsh textures from his orchestra, and skillfully exploring changing dynamics within a single cue. "SWAT Raid" has a minimalist motif that Glasgow uses as an anchor between dramatic brass waves and very low-key strings, while tracks such as "Flashback and Murder Chaconne" show Howard Shore 's influence on the genre by playing with unresolved harmonics - an approach that perfectly captures a mind under extreme emotional torment.

As a contrast to the more familiar doom-and-gloom suspense material are some elegant solos, which give the score a strong emotional grounding. "Interrogation for Violin and Orchestra" begins as a kind of Dies Irae variation, and quickly builds with weighted percussion to a high peak, and launches a classical violin solo. Glasgow weaves supportive strings and long, dirge-like chords between the solo, and it's easily one of the album's standout cues.

"Parents" and "Taylor Meets Davies" contain the film's second major theme, and it's equally affecting through the combination of hesitant piano and liquid, sustained strings. The theme goes through a few variations, but Glasgow keeps it incomplete, subtly capturing a singular sense of loss or emotional trauma that cannot be resolved.

"Captain's Orders" is a more traditional suspense fodder, which goes for simple repetition accented by mechanized chords and marvelous vibrato, while "Crossing the Bridge" has a sudden burst of minimalism that spirals to a quick conclusion.

Chasing Ghosts is a good showpiece for a new composer, and listeners will find Glasgow 's recurring themes and motifs as memorable anchor points as the score moves towards a conclusion of inevitable good vs. malevolence. (Listeners should note, however, that electronic cue "Totentanze" by Kaz Boyle isn't the album's final cue. The final track, the lengthy and brass-heavy "Karis," appears to have been mis-numbered, and is the first cut to play.)

This album is available from iTunes, and from MovieScore Media in 320kbit.

 

© 2007 Mark R. Hasan

 
 
 
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