Welcome to Volume 2 of Oddities & Outakes. As usual it’s a mixture of new and old tracks from our Insect vaults – including ‘finished’ pieces, sketches and demos. It’s a pretty mixed bag, and mostly unheard outside the walls of our studio. Our most recent work is represented by tracks from Alex Garland’s DEVS mini-series and the action thriller series HANNA (Amazon Prime).
We’ve also dug out some previously – loved tracks, notably from the 2003 movie Owning Mahowny, which feature the inimitable trumpet of the late and truly great Jon Hassell.

* Mahony Car is co-written by the Insects, Richard Grassby Lewis & Jon Hassell.

Oddities & Out-takes Volume 2

Adapted from P.D.James imagined sequel to Pride and Prejudice, Death Comes to Pemberley (Origin Pictures) is a costume drama with a murder mystery twist in the tail.This was a great opportunity to work with director Daniel Percival again, and with a great cast and production values.

 

Some of the main themes were written prior to actual filming as a response to Juliette Towhidi’s wonderful screenplay, and our aim from the outset was to knit together the two genres,making reference to the period and at the same time creating a contemporary  ’whodunnit’ score.
We opted for a piano led score,with accompanying harp,flute,horns,chamber strings and – in places – female vocals.We also made use of the Ondes Martenot (an early electronic instrument) which supplements the more conventional instrumentation.

The result is some of our most melodic and tuneful – and certainly our most lyrical – film music.




Death Comes to Pemberley

Here are a few tracks from our soundtrack for 'The Living and the Dead' BBC One drama series.

The Living and the Dead

This was a great film to be involved in – a visceral,blood soaked and extremely violent HORROR movie.
Written and directed by Christopher Smith,the film tells the story of Kate (played by Franka Potente) who unwittingly gets trapped overnight on the London Underground.

The main challenge was to create a score that could sonically live within this claustrophobic,confined environment – with its maze of reverberant tunnels,drains and Victorian sewers.



CREEP

This is a new compilation from the insects - previously unheard music. Some new stuff plus some older material which has been plucked from our archive,dusted down and made available here for the first time.



Oddities And Out-takes

The opening Titles music from the film. Written and performed by the Insects and featuring John Hassell on trumpet.

Owning Mahowny Titles Music

Belindas Escape

Final Casino

Roulette

Original score from the TV series "Wire in the Blood"  based on the novel by Val McDermid.

Angela Dead

Trudy Theme

Kiss The Sword

Epend

Hoodies

First Witness

Sad Bidwell

Tears

Zest

Goodnight

Wickham Arrest

Woods Encounter

Pemberley Titles

Pemberley Open

This was a specially commissioned track from our alter egos - The Flies - and featuring the vocals of Sean Cook.  

Dissolve

This is the opening titles music from the series Wire in the Blood

Wire in the Blood - main theme

Stuck In Bed

Soundwaves

Mahowny Car

Mahowny Jangle

Mahowny Dougs Confusion

Hanna Tube Chase

Eighties Beat

Carmichael(HANNA)

Bell End

Heels

Aurora

Abandoned

This is the credits music for a short film called 'Monkfish' which was written and directed by Robbie McCallum.It's a very well written funny and stylish film and inspired us to write this Sixties sounding piece of instrumental music - with just a nod to Tarantino.

Ringo

High Jinx

In 2014 we worked with writer and director Robbie McCallum, producing music for two short films - "Cheekball" & "Monkfish".

This is the opening music for "Cheekball"

Cheekball Titles

Unreleased track from The Flies. Homage to the now defunct pop instrumental.

Dead Pig

The Living and the Dead Soundtrack

A Lyke Wake Dirge

Clarity

‘The Reaper’s Ghost’ was written in 1935 by the American singer, songwriter and ‘minstrel’ Richard Dyer Bennet. He not only wrote his own songs but was an avid collector and recorder of American, English and European folk music. He was a big influence on the 40s and 50s folk revival in the USA- amongst his fans were Pete Seeger, Judy Collins and Joan Baez. He wrote ‘The Reaper’s Ghost’ after overhearing a conversation in a pub in rural Norfolk in the UK. The conversation was about a local farmhand who was seen crossing a hayfield at sunset. He passed behind a pile of hay and was never seen again! The singer on this is Sean Cook (Spiritualized, Lupine Howl & The Flies). We recorded an album with Sean as ‘The Flies’. ‘All too Human’ was released in 1997 and was described as ‘…the Velvets on a David Lynch set’. We just knew that Sean could deliver on this with just the right amount of menace.

The Reaper's Ghost

Trapper's Story

Harriet Lake

The main Titles theme which is used throughout the series is a version of ‘A Lyke Wake Dirge’ which is an old tune with Pagan, pre-Christian roots. It describes the journey and travails of the soul after death. The singer is singer/songwriter Mark Leggasick aka Howlin’ Lord. Mark’s own material is very American in influence, but we thought he would really suit this song – which proved correct!

The Living and the Dead Titles

Music from from the Horror film CREEP.Directed by Christopher Smith and starring Franka Potente.

Locked in

Kate sleeps

Unfinished Business

Foetus

From the score to the feature film "Love and Death on Long Island"
Directed by Richard Kwietniowski. Starring John Hurt and Jason Priestley.

Face To Face

Audrey

Lying Awake For You(featuring the vocals of Carlton)

Creep Titles Music

In our previous incarnation as 'Startled Insects' we recorded an album with Biggie Tembo (from the Bhundu Boys). The album was never released owing to Biggie's ongoing health problems. Biggie died in 1995 aged 36. He was an exceptional talent and an amazing guy.
This track has never seen the light of day until now.

Biggie Tembo                Vocals.Guitar.
Richard Grassby Lewis   Keyboards.Percussion.
Bob Locke                      Bass.Keyboards.
Tim Norfolk                   Lap steel guitar.Guitar.
Produced by                  Startled Insects

The Sun

FILM COMPOSERS - PRODUCERS - SONG WRITERS - ARRANGERS
Ivor Novello Award winners for the score to DEVS. 'Best Television Soundtrack 2021' Co-written with Ben Salisbury & Geoff Barrow.

Produced albums and written songs for other artists - Massive Attack,Goldfrapp,The Flies, to name a few.
Recently collaborated with composers Ben Salisbury & Geoff Barrow on scores for 'Hanna' Series 1 (Amazon Prime) and Alex Garland's upcoming TV series 'DEVS'(FX).

the insects

Pinned to spotlight

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