Every October since 2002, I’ve spent the month delving into horror films. Some years have leaned more into familiar choices that I have come to love over the years, often by virtue of what else I had going on that month. In its earlier incarnations, however, I leaned into films I was not familiar with in the genre, from classic offerings to modern movies I’ve missed. Each year, I find myself immersed in the atmosphere, the haunting narratives, and the unsettling music. In 2004, the creative bug hit, and manifested into compositions inspired by those viewings. This is a compilation of all of the pieces those October viewings have inspired to date.
In 2013, four of these pieces found their way onto my album, “Storytelling”, but by offering them here, I think you will be able to greater appreciate the context in which they have been composed. My 7th album, “The Cold Wind of Horror” is not a chronological experience, but one structured in a way to place each piece as part of the whole of these creative experiences.
One of the things I love about the cover art for this album, by Alex Filacchione, is that it evokes the feeling of watching some of the great silent masterpieces of the genre, whether it’s “Nosferatu”, “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” or “Haxan”, which uses the iconography of horror to look at modern psychological struggles, and how science has often been mistaken for witchcraft. In a way, that might be a film that means most to me in considering this collection of horror-inspired pieces, one of which- “Labyrinth of Terror”– was used as the underscore for a psychological horror film in its own right several years ago.
In addition to my “October horror” compositions, the album concludes with my original score for the silent short film, “Walpurgis Night”. While wedded to the film, it is effective as film music, but it also captures the essence of horror as well as any of these pieces in terms of what I want to do with these compositions- create an atmosphere as unsettling as any film has. I think the results speak for themselves.
The album is available for purchase at Bandcamp, as with my other albums and EPs. If you use the promo code “horrormusic” from now until November 2, you will get 15% off your purchase. As this year also marks 25 years since I began composing, I’m also starting to offer ALL of my albums/EPs available at Bandcamp bundled together, for a 35% discount off their listed price. I hope people take advantage of that, and take the chance to get to know my work from the beginning.
Thanks for listening,
Brian Skutle
www.sonic-cinema.com
brianskutle.bandcamp.com
“Creative Beginnings” at CDBaby
“Dark Experiments” at CDBaby
“Sonic Visions of a New Old West” at CDBaby
“Beyond the Infinite: A Musical Odyssey” at CDBaby
“Storytelling” at CDBaby
“Arpeggiations & Atmospheres” on BandCamp
“Classical Cinema” on BandCamp
“Player, PhD. – Original Score” on BandCamp
