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Music Reviews:

Dawning - Music by Nathaniel Levisay

Screamworks Records – 2011

The score for DAWNING is incredibly atmospheric with a heavy emphasis on mood.  Composed with a deft hand by Nathaniel Levisay, he carefully constructs his score to take the time to develop tension and drama in a natural fashion.

I like how Levisay doesn't do things heavy handed and goes for the quieter scary approach that gets under your skin rather than just saying "Boo."

"Dawning & Main Title" is a precursor to the remaining nine tracks that will put you firmly on the edge of your seat.  The instruments play together like they are just warming up for the terror that follows.

The piano helps bring warmth into "I Love You."  I found this important not only because it is a pretty melodic theme, but gives the score some tenderness.  I'm sure it supports making you feel compassion towards the onscreen characters.

The string work in "Can't Trust Chris With a Gun" is almost EVIL DEAD like and the strange percussion hits mid-way through really made me feel off balance.  The picking, plucking of the string instruments is flat out scary.

The way the brass and voices are used in "The Man" should make your hair stand up.

The quiet, subdued build of  "Was It Beautiful" is effective because you feel something is going to happen.  The instrumental notes that seem wrong, seemingly just thrown in, should make you feel uneasy.

The screeching strings in "She's Dead" give INSIDIOUS a run for it's money. The way the drums hit hard out of nowhere reminded me a little of Elliot Goldenthal's ALIEN 3 masterwork.

Some of the sounds of the instruments in "You're Tearing Us Apart!" took me back to the cinema scores of the 70s.

The piano is used very sparingly in the ninth track "Aurora" but sets a little mood before the strings and orchestra quietly whisper the dreadfulness to come.

Levisay works the orchestra into a frenzy in "We're All Going to Die & End Titles" as the brass growls an snarls during the first half of the track.  While in the second half is incredibly quiet and might make you misjudge that the cue is over.

DAWNING is a very cool horror soundtrack because it aims to creep you out rather than provide just pop up scares or action scoring.  I find this approach the scariest to listen to and one of the least used methods in today's horror films.  For those reasons you should seek out the score for DAWNING.

http://screamworksrecords.com/