tuart Gordon is familiar to SF film cognoscenti as the director who has brought a number of movies inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft to the silver screen, beginning with Re-Animator in 1985. Less well known is Bobby Johnston, the composer for Gordon's latest flick, the non-Lovecraft (and non-supernatural, for that matter) King of the Ants. But this interesting, multi-layered and darkly compelling soundtrack should help bring Johnston to a more widely deserved audience.
The main title theme opens with a muted minor-key string passage leading into a driving but restrained statement that makes its point quickly and then drops back into a thoughtful coda. This piece, short as it is, nevertheless conveys a claustrophobic and unsettling mood that is maintained across the disc through the development of its leitmotif.
The forward motion continues through the first section of the next offering, "Stalking Gatley / Susan's Theme / Following Susan / Stalking Gatley." "Susan's Theme" itself, played in single notes on a piano with minimal background, is sweetly sad as layers of percussion build up
under the main riff.
Bells and chimes are to the fore in a number of the following pieces, such as "Decision Made" and "Sean Escapes," but the percussive nature of the music always underpins Johnston's thematic material. All of the music on this disc conveys a slightly disturbing mix of sensuousness and aggression, but it's never overstated. The occasional use of breathy, wordless voices to underscore certain passages, as in "At the Ranch," adds another element to the CD's general air of menace and uncertainty. But there's nothing ethereal or angst-ridden here, and overall no synthesizers or rambunctious effects.
The CD booklet contains exclusive liner notes from the composer and the director, but instrumentalists are likely to feel that the book would have benefited from a list of the various instruments played on each cut.
Traditional and unorthodox
Unlike most collections of film music, this one stands up very well to repeated listening. Johnston says he is "very interested in using traditional orchestral elements in unorthodox ways." What's more interesting is that he doesn't use any electronic instruments or samples, although he does alter the sounds of some instruments via studio effects. All the instruments on this disc are acoustic, played by Johnston himself, sometimes in unconventional ways. On this CD he whacks boards, plays toy pianos and blows into bottles. This all produces a sort of organic feeling that really anchors the score to the earth plane.
Anyone familiar with the works of the late master African drummer Babatunde Olatunje or the Grateful Dead's percussionist Mickey Hart (who worked and recorded a number of times with Olatunje) will find certain parallels in Johnston's score. It is reminiscent in places of Hart's
masterwork Planet Drum, but never derivative of that CD. And, since the liner notes claim that Johnston plays all the instruments, it must be said that's he's quite a good drummer.
Stuart Gordon reportedly shot King of the Ants for less than a million dollars over 24 14-hour days on short ends, which are leftover pieces of film that are never longer than five minutes or less than three. Now, that's disciplined filmmaking! Johnston's score perfectly complements Gordon's approach.
Bobby Johnston's recent film music includes scores for several critically acclaimed documentaries, including Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election and We Are Phamaly, as well as several short, no- to low-budget flicks. With King of the Ants, however, his work becomes available to a wider, and with luck more appreciative, feature audience.
