John Carpenter announces new album ‘Lost Themes IV: Noir’
John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter, and Daniel Davies have announced details of their new album, Lost Themes IV: Noir. The LP is set for release on May 3rd and has been teased by the new single ‘My Name Is Death’.
Though Carpenter is a world-renowned name in film composition, he is also no stranger to releasing unaccompanied music. A decade has passed since he first released Lost Themes, an LP filled with vibrant synth sounds that marked a musical renaissance for the composer. Now, the fourth set in the series is set to arrive.
Davies commented on the inspiration behind the album, saying, “Sandy, [King, John’s wife and producer] had given John a book for Christmas, of pictures from noir films, all stills from that era.”
He continued, “I was looking through it, and I thought, ‘I like that imagery and what those titles make me think of. What if we loosely based it around that? What if the titles were some of John’s favourite noir films?”
The Lost Themes series of albums by Carpenter are dubbed, “Soundtracks for the movies in your mind.” Despite the statement’s ambiguity, a genre is necessary, and from that initial seed, the trio landed on noir.
Carpenter elaborated: “This is who we are, I think. Daniel’s the adventurer. He pushes for new sounds, new directions. He tries things that I haven’t thought of. He’s a lot more daring than I am, and he enriches the whole thing. Cody’s the musician. He’s a savant at music. He understands music. We depend on him to rescue us.”
The upcoming release marks a move into new territory for Carpenter, as is highlighted in the new track, ‘My Name Is Death.’ The bass line has a punk element to its composition, and the drum machine adds a layer of atmosphere, palpable to what one would come to expect from his soundtracks.
Listen to the new single below.
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