Daniel Davies - Events Score (2018)

Daniel Davies is the son of the Kinks' Dave Davies and the godson of horror master John Carpenter. While he's followed in both artists' footsteps throughout his career, either by playing rock & roll (in bands such as Year Long Disaster and Karma to Burn) or making minor contributions to Carpenter's films, he's spent the 2010s becoming increasingly more active on the cinematic side. He's written or recorded music for several films and television series and, most visibly, he's been writing, recording, and performing music with Carpenter and his son Cody since 2014. Of course, Carpenter's Lost Themes albums aren't actually proper film soundtracks, and neither is Davies' debut solo full-length, Events Score. There also isn't as much of a hard rock edge to Events Score as there was to his work with Carpenter. Guitars are present as textural instruments, but the focus is generally on eerie synthesizer melodies. "Shadows Alive" features a harpsichord-like lead and stirring bass pads that, indeed, sound like shadowy figures coming to life and prowling around the scene. As with much of Events Score, the atmosphere is tense, but there isn't quite an attack. "Endless Blue" starts out evoking a mass of storm clouds, but instead of erupting into violent bursts of thunder and lightning, it clears out and lets heavenly rays of light shine through. "Body Obtained" is the album's shortest track, but perhaps its most dazzling display of softly swirling textures and suspenseful melodies. The album ends with "Stasis," a lush comedown that sounds like the aftermath of a film's gruesome finale, although it seems like we didn't actually get to witness it. Davies sounds like he's still finding his voice as a composer, but as it stands, Events Score is an imaginative take on horror and sci-fi soundtracks.