Way back in December of 2021 Kent, Ohio-based electronic duo Future Children released an album with Scottish record label Bibliotapes. Bibliotapes specializes in soundtracks to famous novels. These are imagined soundtracks, but not to made up sci-fi and horror movies but to actual classic literature. Drew Mulholland scored A Clockwork Orange, while Rupert Lally created a score for Dune(you should check out Rupert’s scores for Bradbury and King as well, while you’re at it.)
I love the idea of creating sound for words, as opposed to visuals. For my money there’s something far more personal and interpretive to creating music for novels, than say a film. A film is far more leading than words on a page. Stunning visuals are far more apt to move someone to create sounds; melodies and chords lock to visuals. With a novel I feel there’s something far more personal about that experience. There’s not pictures to lead the melodies. It’s how a story moves you through words transcribed in your head and heart.
Anyways, back to Future Children.
Future Children have made a soundtrack for Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying Of Lot 49. Now Pynchon is NOT the easiest author to crack. In fact, I’m still trying to finish V. after almost 4 years. I’m hoping to get thru it by retirement. That’s not a knock on Pynchon more than it’s a knock on my spongy, soft brain. Pynchon is a genius and I’m not. With The Crying Of Lot 49 Pynchon either created the great post-modernist novel or the great satire of post-modernism, depending upon who you talk to. All I know is that Yo La Tengo wrote a song called “The Crying Of Lot 49” and I loved it, so it must be amazing. And also, Radiohead named their website “W.A.S.T.E”, which is a direct reference from the book as well.
Future Children’s The Crying Of Lot 49 is an all-analog electronic album filled with vintage tones and ghostly melodies, locking into Pynchon’s sometimes maudlin/sometimes paranoid literary world. It’s a fantastic album and fits right into Bibliotapes sound library.
Today Future Children are releasing the video for album track “Jesus Was an Antichrist Anarchist”. The track is a laid back electric piano-heavy tune with vocals that sound somewhere between John Lennon and Al Stewart. It’s more pop-oriented than a lot of the album, with bubbling electronics and a hazy vibe. The video feels hallucinogenic, much like the LSD Dr. Hilarius prescribes to his patients.
Check out the video for “Jesus Was An Antichrist Anarchist” below. Grab Future Children’s The Crying Of Lot 40 here.
Complex Distractions 