Harman Patil (Editor)

Lost Themes

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Length
  
47:53

Release date
  
3 February 2015

Label
  
Sacred Bones Records

Artist
  
John Carpenter

Genre
  
Film music

Lost Themes cdn4pitchforkcomalbums213604e4f04f5jpg

Released
  
February 3, 2015 (2015-02-03)

Lost Themes (2015)
  
Lost Themes Remixed (2015)

Similar
  
John Carpenter albums, Other albums

John carpenter s lost themes ii


Lost Themes is the debut studio album by American film director and composer John Carpenter. It was released on February 3, 2015, through Sacred Bones Records. Carpenter created Lost Themes in collaboration with his son Cody Carpenter and his godson Daniel Davies. While Lost Themes is his first stand-alone album, Carpenter has composed numerous critically acclaimed soundtracks for films since the 1970s, including for the films Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, and Escape from New York.

Contents

John carpenter vortex official audio


Background

On the album's production and recording, Carpenter stated:

Lost Themes was all about having fun. It can be both great and bad to score over images, which is what I’m used to. Here there were no pressures. No actors asking me what they’re supposed to do. No crew waiting. No cutting room to go to. No release pending. It’s just fun. And I couldn’t have a better set-up at my house, where I depended on Cody [Carpenter] and Daniel [Davies] to bring me ideas as we began improvising. The plan was to make my music more complete and fuller, because we had unlimited tracks. I wasn’t dealing with just analogue anymore. It’s a brand new world. And there was nothing in any of our heads when we started other than to make it moody.

Critical reception

Upon its release, Lost Themes received positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 74, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", based on 12 reviews. Writing for AllMusic, Heather Phares stated that "a big part of Lost Themes' brilliance lies in Carpenter's refusal to update his aesthetic -- the more '80s it is, the more vital it sounds." She also further commented: As he leaps from one thrill to the next, he evokes his past without rehashing it, delivering a complete and immensely satisfying portrait of his music along the way." Consequence of Sound critic Dan Bogosian thought that "Carpenter’s limited instrumentation started as a strength," writing: "these Lost Themes could stand with any of his horror soundscapes." Exclaim! critic Cam Lindsay described the album as "a brand new soundtrack that doesn't require a film" and observed: "Carpenter knows exactly how to appease his fans, and with Lost Themes, he has given them just what they want." Aaron Leitko of Pitchfork wrote: "Lost Themes is plenty dark and heavy but shorter on inspiration." Andy Beta of Rolling Stone was mixed in his assessment of the album, stating: "The icy synths of "Vortex" and "Fallen" evoke vintage Carpenter dread, but the prog-pomp of "Domain" and "Mystery" are the aural equivalent of too much CGI."

Charts

The album debuted at number 44 on the UK Albums Chart.

Track listing

All music composed by John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies.

Personnel

  • John Carpenter – composition, performance, engineering
  • Cody Carpenter – composition, performance, engineering
  • Daniel Davies – composition, performance, engineering
  • Jay Shaw – design
  • Kyle Cassidy – photography
  • Songs

    1Vortex4:45
    2Obsidian8:24
    3Fallen4:44

    References

    Lost Themes Wikipedia