An Ominous Sound for an Ominous Future

Fripp & Eno started it with The Heavenly Music Corporation, not ambient music but ominous and terrifying sonic explorations, lovely too. (Click preceding link to listen.)An Ominous Sound for an Ominous FutureI heard the sound again, years later, at a Grateful Dead show in Miami in 1988; it was like being inside a jet engine, all-encompassing, so very loud.

An Ominous Sound for an Ominous FutureAnd then, in Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds (2006), a new version, low and distant, perhaps over-produced, arrived on screen. (Click preceding link to listen.)An Ominous Sound for an Ominous FutureIt arose again in the trailer for Chris Nolan’s Inception (2010), promising aural profundity; regrettably, the sound was brief and the movie was not.An Ominous Sound for an Ominous FutureThe sound became more realized in Gravity (2013), providing the soundscape for the impending doom of debris.An Ominous Sound for an Ominous FutureIt has now returned to the frontier of music, more than My Bloody Valentine’s sonic wall, in Sigur Ros’ latest work, Kveikur (2013).An Ominous Sound for an Ominous FutureLouder and deeper, back-filled by drums and wailing voices, the sound builds, just falling short of the next plateau. An Ominous Sound for an Ominous FutureAs this sound continues in its evolution, getting deeper and fuller, it might even be a synchronistic backdrop for our promised apocalypse.

Gravity: All Style

There are moments in Gravity that are worth something – although I’m not sure if it’s worth the $100 million budget nor the $18 ticket. GV-FP-0132rThe visuals are impressive, like the camerawork and music; however the narrative is superficial at best, offering only caricatures and predictable cliffhangers, as it jumps from one space station to another, with a cloud of space debris always in close pursuit. gravity-debrisIt’s a shame, with all that money, time and ingenuity, that such little effort was invested into fleshing out the details of why we are supposed to care.