John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter, and Daniel Davies have just released Lost Themes IV: Noir via Sacred Bones Records. The new ten song collection – the latest in a series of non-film music from the trio that kicked off with the initial Lost Themes album in 2015 – was loosely inspired by the noir genre and marks new territory for Carpenter and his cohorts, imbibing their trademark synth hooks and pulsing drum machine with propulsive post punk basslines and smoldering guitar solos. The album was preceded by a stunning music video for the album’s first single, “My Name Is Death”, a miniature noir film directed by Ambar Navarro, starring Natalie Mering (Weyes Blood), Staz Lindes (The Paranoyds) and Misha Lindes (SadGirl).
Yesterday, in honor of the 40th Bandcamp Friday, John and Daniel joined Bandcamp’s Brad Sandersfor a live streamed interview that dug deep into the trio’s creative methods, history together, and the multitudinous influences behind the new album. The interview remains archived on the site until 2pm EST Saturday, May 4th – watch it now.
In the years since the release of the initial Lost Themes, Carpenter, Carpenter, and Davies have released close to a dozen musical projects, including an ever-expanding library of studio albums and the scores for David Gordon Green’s trilogy of Halloween reboots, among others. Their prolificity is in no doubt bolstered by the fact that each grew up in a musical environment. John’s father was a professor of music at Western Kentucky University, an experience that lent him the expertise to score the majority of his own movies, starting from 1974’s Dark Star. Daniel’s dad is The Kinks’ Dave Davies, and he would pop by the L.A. studio – the same one the Lost Themes records are made in today – to jam, or to perform at wrap parties for John’s films. That feeling of innate free-flowing chemistry helps Lost Themes IV: Noir run like a well-oiled machine—the 1951 Jaguar XK120 Roadster from Kiss Me Deadly, perhaps, or the 1958 Plymouth Fury from John’s own Christine. It’s a chemistry that’s helped power one of the most productive stretches of John’s creative life, and Noir proves that it’s nowhere near done yielding brilliant results.
Lost Themes IV: Noir track list
My Name is Death
Machine Fear
Last Rites
The Burning Door
He Walks By Night
Beyond The Gallows
Kiss The Blood Off My Fingers
Guillotine
The Demon’s Shadow
Shadows Have A Thousand Eyes