Artik (dir. Tom Botchii Skowronski) is a horror film from 2019 that centres around a serial killer (Artik) who has a torture chamber in his barn and where he brutally tortures random victims. He’s trying to get his son involved in his ‘work’ but his son befriends a mysterious loner and their friendship threatens to destroy everyone’s lives. By most accounts, the movie is dark, aggressive and brutal. Corey Wallace’s score taps into all these elements, creating a score which avoids themes and, instead, favours the use of unsettling textures and brief motifs that are peppered with the required punchy sonic hits.
The score opens with “Artik (Main Titles)”, a track that concisely summarises the various musical ideas of the composer. A low electric guitar starts an incessant repetitive tolling that is joined by a ticking tone that’s a cross between a dripping tap and the nagging tick-tock of a clock. Scratchy tremolo strings scurry through the soundscape at intervals to add to the unnerving sound. Pizzicato cello joins the soundscape and layered on top of all this is a guttural drone that envelopes everything and a cloying dread. If this track does not grab you then the remainder of the album will be a struggle.
The drone (a processed low cello effect) is a motif for Artik, and pops up repeatedly throughout the score. The recurrence of a number of sonic ideas is a common property of the score (e.g., the tick-tock motif) and some become associated with the various characters. For example, Artik’s wife, who seems on a par with Artik’s ideas on the family’s upbringing, is accompanied by bowed and plucked banjo (“Abuse & Neglect”). Artik’s son and the mysterious visitor also both have their own tonal ideas. Distorted electric guitar (“A True Hero”) and detuned piano (“Kitchen Fight”) are other sounds that are added to the sonic mix of Artik, adding to the overall aggressive, ugly feel of the score.
This dark feel means that the briefest hint of something slightly melodic feels like a shaft of bright, cleansing light. These melodic parts appear towards the end of the album. “Artik Loses It” features a two-note repeating cello motif that emerges from frenetic ostinato percussive patterns and dissonant strings to create a calming, though unresolving, effect. “Final Showdown” features waves of sound washing over the soundscape after another frenzied passage of Artik’s drone and aggressive percussion. If I were to compare Wallace’s score for Artik with other recent scores then I would suggest Mica Levi’s Under The Skin (the scurrying, scratchy strings), Scott Walker’s The Childhood of A Leader (the less melodic feel of this score), and Colin Stetson’s Hereditary (the ostinato patterns) or his recent score for Barkskins (the overall textural feel). Overall, the soundscape of Artik will probably not be enough to maintain the interest of those who enjoy their music being thematic, particularly during the middle portion of the album, but the composer has come up with enough interesting sounds, textures and ideas for Artik to be worthy of some interest. Artik is released on the Notefonote Entertainment label as a digital download.
Rating: **½
- Artik (Main Titles) (3:04)
- The First Round (2:07)
- Hope Rises Again (1:03)
- Tools of The Trade (2:04)
- The Forking (2:38)
- Abuse & Neglect (2:44)
- What Seems To Be The Problem? (1:33)
- Holton Searches For Kar (2:45)
- The Chair (3:20)
- Purity (2:32)
- Buckle Up (4:06)
- A True Hero (2:32)
- The Sunflower Field (1:13)
- Kitchen Fight (1:44)
- Artik Loses It (1:45)
- Final Showdown (2:27)
Running Time: 37:44
Notefornote Entertainment (2020)
Reel Music 