Music For Thomas Carnacki – Jon Brooks (Cafe Kaput)

In this era of upload, download, overload there’s a danger of so much sound passing through that more is heard than actually listened to, but this album is worthy of your attention.
   As a composer for film and TV it’s no surprise that Brooks knows exactly how to evoke a mood in a short space of time. He also has keen ear for a simple, infectious melody, and arranges the components artfully for maximum pleasure. Some amount to a kind of pastoral music for the digital age, wherein we stroll through Derbyshire country, yes, but Radiophonic influences aside, the impressionistic piano pieces are also a delight.
   ‘The Yellow Finger Experiments’ stands out as being different in mood and method to most other tracks. This touches on the kinds of sounds created by early exponents of electronic music. Side-by-side, ‘Electric Pentacle’ and ‘Certain Manifestations’ take us into far darker territory, and whilst The Devil Rides Out atmospherics may still be very much in vogue, Brooks does it brilliantly. Those two are followed by a lovely homage to Louis and Bebe Barron’s ‘Forbidden Planet' soundtrack; the monster approaches indeed.
   Elsewhere there are further manifestations of the spirit world called up by the medium of the synthesiser, along with the closing ‘Carnacki Theme Two’ in a John Barry style.
   First class album.


   Buy it here.