MP3: Deep Web (2015)

December 7, 2015 | By

 

DeepWeb2015Score: Excellent

Label: Lakeshore Records

Released:  November 20, 2015

 

Tracks / Album Length:  17 tracks / (39:34)

Composer: Pedro Bromfman

Special Notes: n/a

 


 

Review:

Like the surreal and ultimately sad tale of brilliant programmer / convicted drug purveyor Ross Ulbricht, Pedro Bromfman’s score unfolds like a series of short, odd tonal statements, offering up a series of details that gradually form into longer statements about a man with a strange mandate of making hard drugs available via an Amazon-like interface so the worst aspects of street dealing are replaced with more anonymous forms of illicit drug acquisition.

Ulbricht’s peculiar life is depicted in themes propelled by cyclical rhythms, covering both his insistence on refining an anarchistic distribution system and the long-reaching arms of the law which tracked, stalked, and ultimately ensnared Ulbricht. Bromfman’s tones are warm and humane rather than icy and clinical, with strings adding extra emotional dimension in one of the score’s longer cues, “He Did Do It.”

The woodiness of its instrumental timbres are replaced with an addictive chime in “Operation Onymous”; and a more driven rhythm with light percussion and flanging in “San Francisco Apartment,” the score’s central suspense theme which never resolves as Ulbricht himself remains part of a convoluted conviction. His current state in jail is neatly punctuated by “The Ulbricht Family,” a gentle, somber piano version of the chiming theme, capturing the severe shock and confusion of the events of Ulbricht’s conviction, and its toll on his parents.

Although the album’s final track doesn’t offer full closure, Bromfman’s decision to switch to a more organic and acoustic instrumental palette acts as a summation of the film’s human elements that are central to a documentary which unfolds like a serpentine cyber-thriller.

Lakeshore Records digital album is beautifully mastered, and the score resonates with neatly distilled statements on being lost in a world where legalities, trust, and resolution are loose and hazy.

 

 

© 2015 Mark R. Hasan

 


 

Additional Links:
Editor’s BlogFilm Review — Composer on IMDB  —  Composer Filmography —  Soundtrack Album
 

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Category: Soundtrack Reviews

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