CD: Test (2013)
Score: Very Good
Label: MovieScore Media
Released: June 3, 2014
Tracks / Album Length: 16 tracks / (36 mins.)
Composer: Ceiri Torjussen
Special Notes: n/a
Review:
After working on several high profile scores for Marco Beltrami, orchestrator-composer Ceiri Torjussen branches out with this often amusing dramatic score set in 1985, featuring ridiculously accurate renderings of Tangerine Dream (especially the band’s 1984 score for Heartbreakers).
It’s an interesting choice to design a score so closely on the band’s style (at least in the main titles), but Test quickly finds its own groove with Torjussen’s original thematic material laid out by strings and keyboards, and in several decelerating cues that come to a close with almost ambient, introspective statements.
Most of the tracks feature short thematic fragments – “Goodbye Dawn” is a brief looped piece with an increasingly denser cloud of moody tones appearing near the end – or they function as brief motors designed to propel scenes (such as the bass pulses in “Hello Sunrise”).
Whereas the vintage sounds of TD tend to be integrated by composers into sci-fi and horror films to enhance existing homages and director fixations (witness Cliff Martinez’ Only God Forgives, or Tyler Bates’ Doomsday), it’s unusual to find the integration of classic electronica in a drama, evoking a highly specific period yet effectively supporting the characters without devolving into nostalgic mimicry.
A podcast interview with composer Ceiri Torjussen is also available.
© 2014 Mark R. Hasan
Additional Links:
Composer on IMDB — Composer Filmography — Soundtrack Album
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