Jump to content

A Dark Fantasy Piece


Recommended Posts

Hi everyone!

Here is a piece that I wrote called "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath", it is inspired by the novel wrote in 1927 by American writter H.P. Lovecraft. I wanted to describe this weird winded-dream in which Lovecraft plunges his character Randolph Carter into. I've used some weird and unusual progressions and ambient sounds through the piece to try and describe this strange and dreamy universe of the novella.

Any feedback from composition to production is much appreciated!

 

  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Damn, this is such a cool piece!  There are parts that remind me of Danny Elfman (2:42), John Williams (the section that starts at 4:53), and even David Arnold's score for "StarGate" (the chanting choir at 12:01).  I wonder if you have a score for this and how intricate and specific the notation would have to be to account for all the sounds you used.  Towards the end the crazy violin solo (or soli?) reminds me of Shostakovich.  Also, some parts remind me of Goldenthal's score for "Sphere" with lots of creepy string harmonics and glissandi (1:38).  I've read a few stories by H.P. Lovecraft including the famous "The Call of Cthulhu".  I think you capture the strange and weird vibes of his stories quite well in this piece.  I personally wouldn't even know where to start with composing a piece like this.  The horror genre is quite alien to me - I know only how to compose thematically.  And it seems like despite your piece not having interrelated themes (at least none that I can detect) it proceeds quite logically.  I quite like the section with bongos or congas (can't tell which ones you're using) and percussion.  Thanks for sharing and I hope we hear more of your music in the future!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for taking the time to listen and for your inputs!

The Shostakovich comparison is definitly boosting my ego ahah, i need to check Arnolds and Goldenthals work out. I don't have a score for it as i'm a bit slow in the theorical side of things. But it would be really interesting to do someday... and probably do-able adding notations for synths, unusual instruments, phrases and such...You point out something really interesting, i think good horror/sinister music often comes from a lack of harmony or theme and is often achieved thanks to extensive use of minor keys,
dissonances, unusual techniques and ambient/cinematic sounds rather than thematical ideas although a simple creepy leitmotiv can do wonders (halloween, jaws,the exorcist...). I'm happy that it feels connected, i think the use of the Harp/vibraphone combination(in a Bernard Hermann style) and sound fx transitions helped in that matter!
Those percussions are called jungle percussions on the plugin i'm using so...not sure ^^ anyway thanks for your feedback and i'll make sure i post future pieces here!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 months later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...