Juno Recommends Soundtracks June 2020

Review: Given his love of dark ambient, slowly shifting themes and poignant aural textures, Blanck Mass's Benjamin Power has always had it in him to write and record a great movie soundtrack. He finally did that last year, delivering a creepy, atmospheric and memorable score for dark Irish thriller "Calm With Horses". If you've not seen the film, fear not: INVADA has decided to release the score on vinyl. It's brilliant all told, with Power mixing sustained, unfurling synthesizer chords, gentle piano melodies, ambient electronics, Giallo style movements and raw, trance-influenced riffs to create tracks that consistently fire the senses. Those versed in movie soundtracks will notice nods to the likes of Angelo Badalamenti, Vangelis and John Carpenter, but ultimately Power's trademark sound is very much his own.

Review: Best known for his work as half of "minimal synth duo" Boy Harsher, Augustus Muller has a neat sideline in composing scores for experimental short films produced by his friends from the Four Chambers collective. "Machine Learning Experiments" offers up two of those scores on one must-check LP. A-side suite "Orange Theory" sees Muller confidently strut between creepy sci-fi ambience, thrusting Italo-disco influenced dancefloor workouts, more melodic and spaced-out synth-wave and clandestine, Vangelis-esque soundscapes. Over on side B, the "Hydra" soundtrack is an altogether more immersive affair, with Muller sticking to clandestine ambient and the kind of slowly throbbing fare that was once the preserve of John Carpenter.