John Carpenter : Lost Themes IV : Noir

John Carpenter, the Master of Horror, hasn’t made a film in 14 years. After 2010 he became mostly interested in playing video games and the dropping occasional hot take about Hollywood(and his own classic films.) It seemed as if he would fade into the sunset with a game controller in one hand and flipping the bird with the other.

But at the beginning of 2015 Carpenter signed with Sacred Bones Records and released Lost Themes, a collection of instrumental music Carpenter created with son Cody and Godson Daniel Davies. The result was revelatory, giving Carpenter a new start, not as a filmmaker but a musician. Not that he wasn’t scoring his films back in the day, but with Lost Themes it was simply about making moody music for the sheer joy one gets out of creating things.

Since that 2015 release Carpenter, Carpenter, and Davies have made more Lost Themes albums, as well as re-imagining classic film scores(Anthology and Anthology II) and even scoring all three of David Gordon Green’s Halloween films and the 2022 Firestarter.

We now have Lost Themes IV : Noir, a selection of mood-driven songs that are meant to capture the spirit of classic noir films of Hollywood’s past. Carpenter,Carpenter, and Davies give us a heaping dose of guitar/synth driven songs that drip with mood, mystery, and just the right amount of eerie melancholy.

We open with “My Name Is Death” and a fuzzy, driving bass line quickly accompanied by lilting synth strings and a kick drum. It’s reminiscent of 80s crime noir like To Live And Die In LA. “Last Rites” tows the line between techno-driven rhythms and chugging guitar. It’s both moody and menacing. Daniel Davies adds just the right amount of guitar hero attitude here. “He Walks By Night” is really stunning, bringing touches of the Halloween theme with more of the guitar-driven sound of this trio’s modern score work. The juxtaposition of somber piano, gothic synth, and menacing guitar is perfect. And “Kiss The Blood Off My Fingers” might be the song title of the year.

Lost Themes IV : Noir is a stunning album filled with subtle beauty(“Guillotine”) and guitar-driven groove(“Machine Fear”). Earlier volumes sometimes went a little too heavy on the distorted guitar, while Noir blends it with more piano to exquisite effect. The trio of Carpenter, Carpenter, and Davies continue to make moody, modern instrumentals and Lost Themes IV : Noir might be their best yet.