Cory Strand — Poltergeist-A Reinterpretation
What we have here is a double CDR reinterpretation of the Poltergeist soundtrack by Cory Strand- the very prolific & often creative Minneapolis based ambient/ drone/ HNW artist, who has released more than a few reinterpretations of respected horror movies & cult classics…I’ve always enjoyed most of what Strand has done in the past, and he’s even made me re-evaluate films/ soundtracks that I felt underwhelmed or unimpressed with before. Take his 2013 reinterpretation of the soundtrack for John Carpenters 1995 remake of Village of the Damned- he really managed to reinvigorate and reimagine a rather run of the mill soundtrack for one of the lesser of Carpenter films, which in turn made me want to revisits the film it's self again….so has he managed to work his magic on Goldsmith’s rather safe ‘n’ bland soundtrack?, I’m happy to he has, and he also managed to recreate some of the fear & atmosphere I felt from Poltergeist all those years back too.
Disc one features six tracks in all, and these run between nine & eighteen mintues a piece. Disc two takes in seven tracks in all, and this disc offers up five shorter tracks(seven to nine mintues), and two longer tracks( fourteen to twenty mintues). Mostly both discs tracks focus in on brooding & dread drenched excise in bleak & slow moving ambience. Strand has ironed out all the bland pomp-ness of Goldsmiths soundtrack to create a really tangible feeling of building dread, fear & terror. Though most of the tracks fit here into the ambient bracket, but there is variation with-in the way they are executed- some tracks are slow drifts in muffling sonic terror, while others take on a more angular & uneasy feel. The second disc has one track in particularly that stands out in it’s jarring different-ness…but I wont detail which track it is or it’s sonic workings here, as I think it’s best to experience it for yourself.
Though-out both discs Strand mangers to keep ones attention held, and really each of the 13 tracks have there own merits. So it really makes it difficult to pick out stand along tracks or sonic high points, but certainly one of my favourite moments comes in the form of the track “The Tree”- for those who have not seen the movie this track portrays the scene when the pre-teen boy of the family is scared & freak-out by a tree out his bedroom window on a stormy & wet night. I can still recall how this scene creeped then freak me out as a young teen, and with his retake on it Stand has really managed to capture that feeling of fear & tension. The ten minute track opens with a angular mix of droned out siren like tones, these are mirrored by distant jarring tonal drifts- as the track progress Strand pulls & melts out the tones to create this real tangible feeling of dread filed tension.
With out a doubt this two disc set is one of Strands most successful & wholly consistent soundtrack reinterpretations yet-as he’s managed to ring all the dread, tension & fear out of a pompous & frankly mediocre original soundtrack, and create a through rewarding two disc set. This release came in a edition of 50 copies, but it appeared back in 2013…so I’m not sure if copies are still available, but if you can track down one of these down really is an excellent slice of (mostly) ambient work that mangers to capture dread, fear, horror & build tension perfectly.