A man of varied talents, living legend horror filmmaker John Carpenter exerted control over nearly all aspects of his productions. Not only would he write and direct many of the films that have vaunted him to godlike status in cult-film circles, but he also composed many of the instantly recognizable, eerie electronic scores that soundtrack them. Halloween would be nowhere without Carpenter’s creepy theme music, which teeters between uneven meters to keep viewers off balance. Carpenter is rumored to have composed the whole thing in three days, and his prolific output makes that seem not too far from the realm of possibility.
Around this time last year, Carpenter tried his hand at a release of straight-up non-soundtrack music with Lost Themes, an LP released through the indie record label Sacred Bones. Now, Pitchfork reports that Carpenter has followed through on his promise of further forays into the world of music, announcing a planned follow-up titled, logically, Lost Themes II. Sacred Bones will release the album on April 15, and they’v already revealed the track list and album art attached to the record. But the most major development here is Carpenter’s agreement to perform live concert dates, an opportunity he did not seize the first time around. Carpenter has signed on for appearances at too-cool-for-school music festivals All Tomorrow’s Parties in Iceland and Primavera Sound in Spain, as well as a few dates in England, though he’s made it clear that he’ll announce a North American run soon. Lost Themes was a treat none of us knew we needed in our lives, a sublimely macabre creation refining Carpenter’s sensibility as an artist into a new, thrilling form. How he could translate his unmistakable aesthetic as a filmmaker to the format of a live concert — now that would be something to witness.
