{"id":6353,"date":"2013-04-02T11:18:11","date_gmt":"2013-04-02T15:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=6353"},"modified":"2013-04-02T11:18:11","modified_gmt":"2013-04-02T15:18:11","slug":"cd-killing-the-forbrydelsen-season-1-2007","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=6353","title":{"rendered":"CD: Killing, The \/ Forbrydelsen: Season 1 (2007)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews<\/a> \/ <\/em>J to L<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Rating: Excellent<\/p>\n

Label: Decca\/ Released: March, 2013<\/p>\n

Tracks & Album Length: 21 tracks \/ (48:49)<\/p>\n

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Special Notes: \u00a04-page colour booklet.<\/p>\n

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Composer: Frans Bak<\/p>\n

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Review:<\/p>\n

It took a few years and the international popularity of Denmark\u2019s top TV import to prompt a soundtrack album release, and fans of The Killing<\/strong> \/ Forbrydelsen<\/strong> can finally hear all of the major cues from Season 1 on a CD that\u2019s available in Europe and<\/em> North America.<\/p>\n

The twisted irony is that folks in Region 1 land can buy and hear the music for a series they\u2019re still being denied to see on TV and home video. If you can get past the preposterousness of this situation (and just go buy the U.K. DVD or Blu-ray editions of the original Danish series), you\u2019ve got a fine selection of cues for a terribly engrossing series that\u2019s unrelenting in grimness, and packed withoutrageous cliffhangers and consistent misdirection to keep watchers in a state of severe longing (if not outrage for never getting much closure after every episode).<\/p>\n

Bak\u2019s score is almost entirely derived from his flanging main theme which layers skin drum percussion with light techno beat, over which rides a mournful female voice. The haunting vocal line is both the voice of off-screen dead girl Nanna Birk Larsen, and dogged Det. Sarah Lund. It\u2019s also the show\u2019s dramatic sonic motor which kicks in whenever a situation becomes tense, or more importantly, signals the end of another episode and one fresh teasing revelation designed to infuriate.<\/p>\n

The music is part of the series\u2019 power, and it\u2019s also the emotional anchor which reminds viewers of how one death affects a community, including parents, best friends, lovers, and politicians who play a wicked game of empathy and outrage when it\u2019s politically advantageous.<\/p>\n

The main theme is also a potent emotional hammer during the end credits sequence, because as the percussion textures are blended with a bass groove, the camera pulls back from a photo of Birk Larsen, and the transition from extreme close-up to a full shot of a victim is like a plea for justice from beyond the grave, and there’s something deeply compelling in the way the vocal theme matches the longing in Birk Larsen’s frozen eyes.<\/p>\n

The female voice (Josephine Cronholm) is equally powerful in \u201cTheis and Pernille\u2019s Theme\u201d which similarly covers the dramatic shifts in the relationship of Nana\u2019s parents. Unfolding as a lament without a tangible time signature, Bak\u2019s theme covers the horror as parents absorb a deep personal loss, and their own relationship which becomes saturated in blame, hatred, regret, and ultimately horrific tragedy. \u201cChoral Theme\u201d is equally potent as the soft piano and muted woodwind samples underscore the funeral arrangements and protocol the parents are forced to handle, while \u201cAt the Graveyard\u201d offers a more threadbare variation.<\/p>\n

After the emotional cues, the bulk of the CD offers more suspenseful tracks which neatly cover the grim investigation as suspects are implicated, evade the police, are suddenly cleared, and where fresh ugly details are discovere. \u201cGetting Ready\u201d is the main theme\u2019s percussion track redone with different electronic timbres, and Bak uses a metallic filter to further alter the percussion hits in \u201cWe\u2019re Leaving,\u201d but the most atmospheric of Bak\u2019s cues is \u201cCurious,\u201d with its circular pulses and questioning piano motif. It’s an oft-used cue that punctuates moments when Lund gathers clues, retraces steps, and slowly makes an important deduction. \u201cWaiting\u201d is essentially the main theme\u2019s intro bars with familiar chord statements, some reverb, and an amalgam of the skin drums & circular pulses that are eventually joined by a Raga.<\/p>\n

The score’s last signature cues are the heavily percussive \u201cThe Clock is Ticking,\u201d with a blend of knocking sounds counterpointed by synth chords; and the grimy sustained chords in \u201cStrange Thing,\u201d which Bak plays whenever Lund discovers a hidden clue.<\/p>\n

Light Arabic percussion makes up the rhythmic \u201cAnd We\u2019re Off,\u201d and the Duduk provides some melodic material in the otherwise twanging \/ industrial designed \u201cHartman\u2019s Theme.\u201d South Asian vocals provide another tragic theme for the lost love between two characters, and piano repeats the theme in the more intimate \u201cEmilie\u2019s Piano.\u201d<\/p>\n

The nature of most TV music is to be short, precise in dramatic hits, and to get out of a scene for the dialogue, so most of the cues tend to range around the 2 minute mark. Together they form a full dramatic portrait, but individually a cue can feel underdeveloped because it often lacks a full dramatic arc (\u201cTheis and Pernille\u2019s Theme\u201d excepted).<\/p>\n

Although \u201cFinding the Doll and More\u201d closes the album with one of Bak\u2019s signature suspense cues (angled ambient tones and recurring, thickening bass pulses), the CD\u2019s final cue really should\u2019ve been a recap of the main theme, and one could argue the CD could\u2019ve been longer (if not a 2-disc set) featuring the new music from Season 3 and the handful of new cues in the lackluster Season 2.<\/p>\n

Decca\u2019s CD is a perfectly fine album, but as fans of any series will declare, what’s wanted is the most complete representation of the series’s music. Lund undergoes a long and miserable character arc, and fans want to revisit that emotional journey, especially since the series\u2019 creator and star have declared the show won\u2019t likely be resurrected for a fourth round.<\/p>\n

One could argue there\u2019s something morbid in desiring a revisitation of the show\u2019s most depressing, haunting, terrifying events, but Bak\u2019s music is so fiercely tied to specific dramatic beats in each episode that the CD provides a bit of closure. The real coup for Bak is how the music can instill terror on its own, and leave listeners screaming for more.<\/p>\n

Frans Bak\u2019s other thriller scores include the U.S. version of The Killing<\/strong>, and the TV and film versions of the Danish crime series Those Who Kill <\/strong>\/ Den som draeber <\/strong>(2011).<\/p>\n

Remixes of Bak\u2019s Killing<\/strong> theme were recently released online<\/a>, and Bak has a few videos on YouTube, including a featurette on The Killing<\/strong> music, and an unrelated piece<\/a> with Bak and singer Cronholm perfoming in a small jazz combo.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2013 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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External References:<\/p>\n

IMDB <\/a>— DVD Review<\/a> — Soundtrack Album<\/a> — Composer Filmography<\/a><\/p>\n

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Select Merchants:<\/p>\n

Amazon.ca<\/a>\"\" —<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" —<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a>\"\" —\u00a0BSX<\/a> —\u00a0Intrada<\/a> —\u00a0SAE<\/a><\/p>\n

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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack Reviews<\/a> <\/em>\/\u00a0J to L<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to:\u00a0Home \/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews \/ J to L . Rating: Excellent Label: Decca\/ Released: March, 2013 Tracks & Album Length: 21 tracks \/ (48:49) . Special Notes: \u00a04-page colour booklet. . Composer: Frans Bak . . Review: It took a few years and the international popularity of Denmark\u2019s top TV import to prompt a soundtrack […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[1571,1572,1570],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-1Et","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6353"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6353"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6360,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6353\/revisions\/6360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}