The Decameron, Bad Behaviour and more

Reviews on-the-go is a column that picks out a selection of soundtracks for single-paragraph “mini reviews”. Usually recent discoveries and releases, and usually recommendations, but not exclusively.

Bad Behaviour (Caitlin Yeo, 2023)

This is an Australian miniseries (not to be confused with the similarly titled film, also from 2023) about a boarding school for young girls set in the outback, and the often troublesome dynamic amongst the pupils . While Caitlin Yeo is relatively unknown outside Australia, she’s an experienced film composer in her home country. Yeo’s score follows the “Max Richter recipe”, employing undulating string structures that develop in rather baroque ways, sometimes mixing it up with voices or more tentative landscapes – exploring variations within the chamber ensemble setup. There is a gorgeous, almost wistful or religoso quality to her music, mirroring the scenery, the adolescence and the inner turmoils of the characters – darkness is always lurking around the corner. Favourite tracks: «Silver Creek», «Lord of Our Life Hymn 345», «For Alice Who Endured the Most»

The Decameron (Ruth Barrett, 2024)

This medieval comedy series, released on Netflix, is set in 1348 and follows a group of nobles as they try to wait out the black plague at a remote location in the countryside. Composer Ruth Barrett has previously shown her chops in historical dramas, like Wuthering Heights (2009), Sandition (2019) and especially Victoria (2017), which she did with Martin Phipps (reviewed in Norwegian here). For this score, she mixes tropes of the time – especially hypnotic, female voices – with achronological imports from other periods, like the renaissance or electronics from contemporary times. In so doing, the music takes an almost satirical, meta-commenting role, transposing the woes of the characters to universal validity. It also makes for supremely entertaining listening. Favourite tracks: «The Decameron (Main Title)», «Flee the Plague», «Misia Stomp», «Lost Without You»

AGGRODR1FT (AraabMUZIK, 2024)

Renowned indie filmmaker Harmony Korine (Kids, Spring Breakers) returns with a wildly experimental genre film (presented exclusively in infrared photography, no less) about an assassin’s attempt to kill a drug lord. 35-year-old electronica artist and DJ AraabMUZIK (real name Abraham Orellana) makes his film scoring debut with a scintillating synth score, heavy on sequencers and minimalist structures, which is his speciality. By oscillating high pitched sounds, AraabMUZIK creates an acidic, “off” ambiance, while constantly counterpointing it with airy chords or drum loops – capturing the monomaniacal mission of the assassin. The album has 34 tracks, most of them around the minute mark, and many of them ending (intentionally) abruptly, so a little bit of whittling might be in order to make it more fluid as a listening experience. But most definitely an electronic highlight of the year. Favourite tracks: «Just the Beginning», «Vigilantes», «Rejoice»

Veselka: The Rainbow on the Corner at the Center of the World (Ryan Shore & David Sanborn, 2024)

This documentary, narrated by David Duchovny, is about the Ukrainian New York restaurant Veselka and its efforts to support its home country during the Russian invasion. Ryan Shore (Howard’s nephew and now an experienced film composer in his own right) provides a score that mixes two primary elements – allusions to the Eastern European origins (cembalom, Romani stylings) and the moodier, urban, sometimes rock-infused aspects of New York – augmented by co-composer and saxophonist David Sanborn, maybe one of the last things he did before his untimely death in May, 2024. Sanborn, of course, was also an important voice of Michael Kamen’s Lethal Weapon scores (he also performed Kamen’s sax concerto) and returns to film one final time. The two elements play off of one another beautifully, resulting in a constant ebb and flow between the two regions, ultimately binding them together. Favourite tracks: «Memories», «Meet Me at the Rainbow», «Reunion»

Patrick and the Whale (H. Scott Salinas & Matthew Atticus Berger, 2022)

This underwater documentary charting the life of the sperm whale, and our interaction with it, ran the festival circuit in 2022 until it had a wider premiere in 2023. US composer H. Scott Salinas (Rust Creek) has had a long and varied career, but has particularly made a name for himself in documentaries. With somewhat younger partner and co-composer Matthew Atticus Berger, he has sculpted a beautifully organic and ethereal score, befitting the subject matter. With spacey dynamic range and occasional sounds emulating haunting whale noises, it runs the Avatar template of painting the underwater world in broad, dreamy strokes – mostly electronic, but with acoustic elements as colouring. Occasionally, just a single instrument, like an airy flute, layered on a cushion of piano or sustained electronic chords. A couple of “rougher” tracks break up the mood now and then, but this is a gorgeous little concept album, curated at a perfect 37 minutes. Favourite tracks: «What Are They Thinking?», «She Found Me», «Abyssal Depths»

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