Häxan - A Soundtrack | Nick Carlisle

Häxan - A Soundtrack

by Nick Carlisle

supported by

Michael Staley A stunning, mellotron and synth-drenched score, with hints of Roedelius, John Carpenter and Eno, and melodies that will stay lodged in your brain. Benjamin Christensen would have loved this. Favorite track: The Thieving Daughter.

syngirl32 Delightfully nerdy occult tracks that pays hommage to the horror prog rock acts of the 70s like Goblin. I hope a print of the movie with this soudtrack will be made available soon!

Anton Barbeau/thought collector thumbnail

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Purchasable with gift card

£7 GBP or more
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
CD edition of the "Häxan - A Soundtrack" album in a gatefold card case, including 4 page booklet with liner notes.

Includes unlimited streaming of Häxan - A Soundtrack via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

ships out within 5 days

£12 GBP or more

1.	Witch Sabbath 04:04	info	buy track
2.	Hexenwahn 05:19	info	buy track
3.	Heptagram / Diablerie 03:01	info	buy track
4.	The Sorceress Underground 04:39	info	buy track
5.	The Tenth Crystal Sphere 02:28	info	buy track
6.	Karna's Potion 03:54	info	buy track
7.	Maria The Weaver (inc. In The Court Of The Inquisitor) 04:41	info	buy track
8.	Confession 02:10	info	buy track
9.	The Scourge 03:52	lyrics	buy track
The Scourge Mend your ways, Ask God's mercy All your sins, All our sins
10.	Cannot Shed Tears 04:08	info	buy track
11.	The Sleepwalker 04:42	info	buy track
12.	The Thieving Daughter 04:10	info	buy track

about

"Häxan - A Soundtrack" comprises highlights from a Queen's Film Theatre, Belfast-commissioned score for the 1922 silent film directed by Benjamin Christensen 📽

Nick performed the new score live for the first time at a screening of Häxan at QFT on 24th November 2022, as part of the BFI's UK-wide "In Dreams Are Monsters" season of horror films.

"‘Häxan’ is a sensational piece of work that puts Carlisle’s accomplished synth work front and centre. It’s perfect for soundtracking film and it would be no surprise if this were to act as a launch pad for more of them." - Beats To The Bar, beatstothebar.com/reviews/7-releases-weve-loved-in-november/

THE FILM

Supposedly intended as a moral education tool, Häxan instead is ripe, bawdy, and more than likely to give you sympathy for the devil. Director Benjamin Christiansen took the Malleus Maleficarum – the medieval witch finder’s handbook – and made a documentary on witches. Having it deliciously both ways, Christiansen’s film gives us incubuses seducing maidens, medieval torture devices and witches’ sabbaths, while also unpacking the myth of the witch as a tool of oppression. Full of sumptuous recreations – in brilliant red and blue filters – of witch burnings, goblin parties and ostentatious devilry, on its release Häxan was the most expensive Swedish film yet made. A phantasmagoria worthy of William Blake or Albrecht Durer, it’s guaranteed to make you look askance at a church gargoyle and see silent film in a new light.

THE MUSIC

"I was delighted to be asked to compose for this project. I previously played in a band called "Katy and Nick" which had quite a sinister feel, where Mellotron cellos and strangely medieval clarion calls inhabited a kind of fever dream space. So Häxan in many ways doesn't feel like such a foreign place to visit. I took the decision to keep only a loose eye on the sounds and styles I would use - there is the odd reference to the European shamanic Sámi drum, and the doomy Mellotron and synthesisers used are played in such a way to squeeze them more or less into a 15th Century timeframe. But in the main, since the film ultimately deals with the pitfalls of human ignorance and imagination, I relied on my own to lead the way, for better or worse.”

Commissioned by Queen’s Film Theatre as part of In Dreams Are Monsters: A Season of Horror Films, a UK-wide film season supported by the National Lottery and BFI Film Audience Network. indreamsaremonsters.co.uk

credits

released November 25, 2022

All tracks written by Nick Carlisle except "Maria The Weaver" written by Cotterell/Carlisle, "The Scourge" written by Carlisle/Rosamond.
Produced & mastered by Nick Carlisle.
Commissioned by Michael Staley for Queen’s Film Theatre.
With thanks to Michael & all involved at QFT, the Independent Cinema Office & Swedish Film Institute, to Maggie Cole and Richard Macphail for lunch and harpsichord, to Dave Kerzner for the soft Hammond, & Steve "Pud" Jones at the Farm for even more keys.

Nick Carlisle: Pro-One, Prophet 5, Roland Juno 60, ARP Pro Soloist, Korg Wavestation, Roland Rhodes MK-80, Mellotron, harpsichord, software, guitar, flute, drum, percussion, programming, (very) occasional vocals

with:
Simon Adams: Drum on "Witch Sabbath" & "Karna's Potion"
Sarah Rosamond: Vocals & harp on "The Scourge"

Cover photograph: Aubrey Simpson

license

about

Nick Carlisle Brighton And Hove, UK

📸 by Aubrey Simpson.

Nick Carlisle is a producer & composer based in Brighton UK. New album "Bloody Saturnalia" out now, available Digital / Gatefold 180 gram vinyl LP.

"Häxan with Live Score by Nick Carlisle":
28th Jan 2024: The Barbican, London ... more

Recommendations

contact / help

Contact Nick Carlisle

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

Nick Carlisle recommends:

Daughters Of The Sky
by Bamboo

Bamboo is Rachel Horwood & Nick Carlisle. The latest Bamboo album "Daughters Of The Sky" was released on the Upset The Rhythm label in 2019. Nick Carlisle
go to album
The Last Mirage
by Lean Logic

Lean Logic is Nick Carlisle & Rose Keeler-Schäffeler. "The Last Mirage" was released 28th May 2021 on O Genesis Recordings. Nick Carlisle
go to album
What I Did For You
by Katy and Nick

Katy and Nick is a collaboration with Katy Cotterell (Es, Upset The Rhythm). The album "What I Did For You" was released on the Gob Nation label in 2020. Nick Carlisle
go to album

If you like Nick Carlisle, you may also like:

Anthology: Movie Themes 1974-1998
by John Carpenter

featured on Bandcamp Radio Oct 24, 2017
go to album
Mirror Moves (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
by Death Hags

The wonderful goth-pop soundtrack for the 2023 film “Mirror Moves” augments the film’s unsettling tone. Bandcamp New & Notable Aug 7, 2023
go to album
Plastic Estate
by PLASTIC ESTATE

New on the excellent label AVANT!, the debut from Plastic Estate is irresistibly shadowy goth pop with dark majesty & grandeur. Bandcamp New & Notable Jan 9, 2022
go to album