Chvrches aren’t the only ones drawing inspiration from horror movies. Today, Sufjan Stevens and Angelo De Augustine, who are releasing a collaborative album on September 24, have shared two new tracks from the project. “Cimmerian Shade” is influenced by genre classic Silence Of The Lambs, while “You Give Death A Bad Name” is inspired by Night Of The Living Dead. Spooky!
According to De Augustine, “Cimmerian Shade” is written from the perspective of Silence Of The Lambs antagonist Buffalo Bill. “Many authors have emotional attachments to the characters they create,” he said in a press release. “But in this instance, I was interested in how a character felt about being created. In my imagination I was giving consciousness to someone else’s creation. The song is essentially a dialogue between creation and creator that seeks to find understanding to some of the same questions that we ask ourselves about existence, free will, fate, purpose, guidance and if anyone or anything out there is listening or cares.”
These songs follow the previously released “Back To Oz,” “Fictional California,” “Reach Out,” and “Olympus.” The album, titled A Beginner’s Mind, started when Stevens and De Augustine decamped to a friend’s cabin in upstate New York for a “monthlong songwriting sabbatical.” At the ends of their days, they would unwind by watching movies, and the duo’s songs soon began to reflect on the films.
Listen to both “Cimmerian Shade” and “You Give Death A Bad Name” above.
A Beginner’s Mind is out 9/24 via Asthmatic Kitty. Pre-order it here.
