Broadcast

The soundtrack to British director Peter Strickland's Berberian Sound Studio is more than likely the last album you'll ever hear from Broadcast, given Trish Keenan's sad passing in 2011. The film focuses on the work of a British sound engineer named Gilderoy, who travels to Italy to work on the sound for a '70s Giallo flick. This soundtrack of the film, by Broadcast, is imbued with the dramatic and, at times, campy Dario Argento feel you might expect. Given that the album features 39 short tracks, ranging in length from just 23 seconds to one-and-a-half minutes, with only the final two numbers just hitting the three-minute mark, it's somewhat of a disjointed listen. Steeped in gothic, '70s nostalgia, Berberian Sound Studio contains flute, children's voices, spooky chimes and all the requisite eerie sounds you'd expect. The album also hearkens back to the Birmingham, UK outfit's early work as a four-piece, as opposed to their later-day penchant for fuzzy, overloaded synths as a duo. Berberian Sound Studio is far from an essential album, but it's definitely a welcome surprise addition for fans of Broadcast, the movie itself or fans of Italian horror soundtrack artists such as Goblin.