Our Time At The Arcade

Greensleeves (Horror Short)

Piles of Concrete

Our Lady Of Angles

Mysterious Ways Suite

Raold's Wrath

What You Don't See Suite

This is a track from a film I scored last year. It was a horror film, so I thought it would be awesome to do a creepy lullaby. For the theme, I took an ancient Greek piece called the "Seikilos Epitaph" and changed it to 7/4 and added creepy horror touches.

Seikilos Nanoúrisma

Waltz to the Death Monologue

Harpsichord-Fugue-In-D-Minor

Pipe-Organ-Fugue-In-D-Minor

Sara's Theme

I read author Benedict Patrick's Where The Waters Turn Black last year and was immediately in love with the world and characters he created.
The book is set in a secondary fantasy world, but is highly inspired by Polynesian Folklore. It follows an Ocarina player named Kaimana as she sails the Crescent Atoll encountering Gods and Monsters and all sorts of other wondrous things.

I contacted Mr. Patrick and told him that I would love to write a piece of music based on the world and he responded that he was totally on board such an idea. The book is very cinematic, so I decided to write the music as if it were a film score for a hypothetical film adaptation of the novel. I even put in the sounds of waves at the beach and wind moaning through caves to make it just that much more filmic.

While the book is inspired by Polynesian folklore, it isn't based in any real world setting and so it was important to me not have the music sound like it was from any one real life music tradition, but rather that I draw inspiration from a variety of sources. So the music has orchestral winds and strings, percussion from a variety of cultures (Japan, Indonesia, India, Hawaii, Eastern Europe), multiple choirs and of course, most important of all, the ocarina.

The structure of the piece is ABACDA, meaning the main theme comes back three times interspersed with some other themes.

The first A section, heard from the start of the piece until approximately 1 minute in, introduces Kaimana's theme. I wrote a soaring ocarina melody utilizing the Dorian pentatonic mode. 

The B section is the theme for the Taniwha, a monster whom Kaimana befriends. This uses low woodwinds (Bassoons and Clarinets and, maybe most peculiarly, the prominent Baritone Saxophone) and a variety of drums to create an ominous atmosphere—Kaimana just meets the Taniwha and isn't sure if it's a friendly creature or a monster that will attack her. This section is inspired in a very specific way by the work of Japanese composer Masaru Sato, who wrote the film scores to a slew of Akira Kurosawa films; also he scored several Godzilla films, including Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla. His style incorporated Big Band Jazz elements into his orchestral palette—a unique combination that you'll notice pops up in this piece.

The second A section starts at about 1 minute and 50 seconds into the piece. This part combines some of the elements from the Taniwha's theme underneath Kaimana's ocarina melody.  At this point, Kaimana has befriended the Taniwha and they sail the seas between the islands of the atol in search of adventure.

The C Section (2 minutes and 13 seconds) introduces a new character, a minor god in the world. There are many gods in Yarnsworld, and this god is the God of Yams. He's a quirky character, so I wanted to utilize some quirky colors, so I have a baritone saxophone playing the bass underneath a bamboo flute and a sitar. 

The D section (3 minutes) is the theme for a Pig-Faced God of War named Nakoa. I wanted this section to be very aggressive and intimidating. It uses low, chanting male choir, Japanese taiko drums and a variety of gongs and cymbals. Above this cacophany, I bring the Ocarina back in, this time accompanied by two Crumhorns.

The final A section brings together Kaimana's theme, the God of Yam's theme and the Taniwha's theme into a rousing finale. 

I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Where The Waters Turn Black

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