Ben Wheatley – Filmic Tracks

From Lakeshore press release:
“A pitch black, wryly British comedy, PREVENGE follows Ruth, played by Alice Lowe,a pregnant woman on a killing spree that’s as funny as it is vicious. It’s her misanthropic unborn baby dictating Ruth’s actions, holding society responsible for the absence of a father. The child speaks to Ruth from the womb, coaching her to lure and ultimately kill her unsuspecting victims. PREVENGE marks the directorial debut from Lowe, who is a true triple threat, writing, directing, and acting in the film during her own real-life pregnancy.
PREVENGE is Alice’s directorial feature debut. She wrote, starred in, and directed it whilst 7-8 months pregnant with her first child, who also appears in the film. Alice was one of the BIFA nominees for ‘best debut director’.”

I became an Alice Lowe fan with the film Sightseers [2012] , and as I have just a teeny weeny, ever so so slight ‘connection’ to her as she went to school with a cousin of mine [I said it was slight :-)], it’s only fair that I should review the films soundtrack. Here’s a little bit of info on Toy drum from the press release:

“Toydrum are a duo who sneak into the consciousness. Not for them the full frontal assault but, instead, a drip-feed of classy work that many may know without knowing. Their hugely acclaimed work with the late singer-songwriter Gavin Clark lit up Shane Meadows’ ‘This Is England ‘90’, their rework of John Lennon’s ‘How Do You Sleep’ led Noel Gallagher to have them remix his High Flying Birds hit ‘In The Heat of the Moment’ (which, in turn, soundtracked last year’s epic ad for the latest ‘Assassin’s Creed’ game), and their soundtracks for films such as the recent Tye Sheridan-starring thriller ‘Detour’ and Alice Lowe’s 2016 Venice Film Festival opener, ‘Prevenge’, have broadened their appeal further.”

Intriguing! As is the soundtrack. It starts appropriately with Intro which is as disconnected as you can get with a pulse running through it which perhaps is the baby’s heart. Biological Clockwork (The Train) is where we are introduced to the voice of the unborn baby saying “It’s OK, I’m here”. The rhythm of the synths obviously suggests the motion of the train with a splendid flurry of 80’s style synth. Fury Pt 1 & 2[Rework] is dominated by deep bass with a flat, synth chime which resonates that ‘something is not quite right” … putting it mildly. Have to say that this a track which will be loaded on to my non-film playlist!

We get to the darkness in Visions Of (Nice Guy Josh)/Killing For Two, the first half is a cold eerie sound palette with a siren sound which is still there but comes in after a childlike toy sound. Climbing The Walls (Pt 1] also has a pulse but this time it sounds like a chilling, muted voice tying to say something. Crazy Bitch/Hormonal Bliss had me laughing at the very start due to the baby voice saying “Do it, do it now” but then it goes into a rich, deep synth riff which I wanted to hear more of but as with quite a few of the tracks ,they have 2 or 3 cues in 1 track. I guess it’s because they would be too short on their own.

Mostly mood tracks with bursts of great synth, all enhanced with the baby voice starting off some tracks. It creates exactly what is required – fear, madness, disconnectedness. I longed for more of the deep synths but’s that just my love of them, this is a solid thriller/horror score which paints only one colour – BLACK!

TRACK LISTING
1. Intro (1:47)
2. Biological Clockwork (The Train) (1:53)
3. This Is What I Really Look Like (Rework) (3:46)
4. Logical Clock (2:08)
5. Fury Pt 1 & 2 (Rework) (3:46)
6. Visions of (Nice Guy Josh) / Killing for Two (2:27)
7. Always with You (Full Song) (3:12)
8. Be Ruthless Ruth (DJ Dan) / Let’s Get You (To Bed) / Ruth Theme (Bath) / Biological Clockwork (The Window) (5:08)
9. Climbing Up the Walls (Pt 1) (1:15)
10. Crazy Bitch / Hormonal Bliss (3:51)
11. Ruth’s Theme (Cemetery – Yoga) / Visions Of (Pt 2) (4:06)
12. Biological Clockwork (The Walk) (4:41)
13. Climbing Up the Walls (Pt 2) / Baby Knows Best (The Tunnel) (2:34)
14. Always with You (Pt 2) / Ruth’s Theme (The Cliffs) (3:31)
15. Children of Love (End Titles) – Paul Synnott (2:10)

INVADA RECORDS UK

Having got sucked in not by the actual film trailer but a teaser which is an advertisement to encourage you to go and live in the self sustained High-Rise, I then watched the trailer proper which is using Tangerine Dream as it’s back music. It seemed to suit the isolation I felt when looking at the soundtrack’s minimalist artwork. I was eager to listen.
Reading director Ben Wheatley’s swear ridden, true heart talk writing on his contacting, meeting and working with composer Clint Mansell in the CD’s sleeve notes and then the appreciative, fan fed response from Mansell – fan on fan .. I was more eager to listen.

J.G Ballard’s book set in a dystonia future telling of a high rise of embedded class structure where humans face their base, primal instincts has been in the making for over 30 years. At one time Nicolas Roeg was to direct and also David Cronenberg. And here we are last with Ben Wheatley at the helm and I am eager to see it.

The score opens with Critical Mass, a fanfare of violins with a ‘pioneer’ feel to it. It brags of success and ends on an eerie tone that almost tags straight onto the following track Silent Corridors featuring a lone whistler – whistling in soundtracks has always freaked me out. If used over menacing music it highlights that the whistler is unhinged, in a ‘happy/carefree’ world of their own whilst the music is shouting something horrible is happening.
The World Beyond The High-Rise is a beautiful cue with a 3 note leitmotif which somehow manages to portray hope in an off-kilter world. It also has a tenderness about it. I played it three times before I could move on. The Circle of Women hitches back on to the opening track, which both have a feel of Aaron Copland in them.
Built, Not For Man, But For Man’s Absence has a pulse to it, not an urgency but a steady pulse perhaps symbolising the lifeline of the High-rise itself, this is used in several tracks. The malice which comes through in Danger In The Streets Of The Sky would fit a 1940’s film noir movie perfectly. It’s sudden, discordant brass notes displace and disturb – this is one of the best cues. Strike that as there isn’t a flawed track on this score!
A Royal Flying School soars then broods with Mansell’s legendary use of ‘strange’ instruments and is taken over by dominant percussion. And as for the closing track Blood Garden – there are so many genre ‘bytes’ which meld together here. Again I listened three times in a row with pure fascination.

It’s always a challenge to use the written word to describe how something sounds and no more so than in reviewing this superb score which truly has to be experienced. Cinematic in scope and beautifully orchestrated, I can’t do it justice and can only say that this year has to deliver something astonishing for me not to mark this as my ‘Best Score’. In many ways it’s not just how it sounds but what it conjures up and the Ballard world it is inhabiting.

“The soundtrack sounded incredible in the cinema, ” I was very f**king happy indeed…Revel in the sound of a bombastic and hubristic 70s that was doomed to failure…Enjoy.”
Ben Wheatley

1. Critical Mass
2. Silent Corridors
3. The World Beyond The High-Rise
4. The Vertical City
5. The Circle Of Women
6. “Built, Not For Man, But For Man’s Absence”
7. Danger In The Streets Of The Sky
8. “Somehow The High-Rise Played Into The Hands Of The Most Petty Impulse”
9. Cine-Camera Cinema
10. A Royal Flying School
11. The Evening’s Entertainment
12. Blood Garden

Label: Silva Screen

Tag: Ben Wheatley

PREVENGE by Toydrum Soundtrack Review

High-Rise Soundtrack Review