The horror master himself John Carpenter is back with new music. Carpenter is best known as the iconic director behind such horror classics as Halloween, The Thing and They Live. He’s also an accomplished and celebrated musician. Carpenter has been more focused on his music in recent years, and these two tracks represent his first offerings since collaborating on the Halloween reboot score in 2018.
Skeleton and Unclean Spirit represent John Carpenter’s first non-soundtrack releases since 2016’s Lost Themes II. The tracks will be released as a vinyl single next month via Sacred Bones. Carpenter had this to say about his latest tunes.
“It was refreshing to be able to write music that didn’t have to fit to any sort of locked image. We also had a specific focus and direction we wanted to follow whenworking on Halloween, both in terms of mindset and instruments, and being able to return to working without that narrow focus was refreshing. Although working on Halloween didn’t specifically influence any of these new compositions, there is always a honing of craft that must take place when working on a film like Halloween, and our improved skills definitely helped us in writing these songs.”
John Carpenter collaborated with his son Cody Carpenter and godson Daniel Davies. The three previously worked together on the soundtrack for 2018’s Halloween. They served as his bandmates and co-composers on the horror sequel, which proved to be a huge hit. Carpenter is returning to produce the sequels, Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends. Cody Carpenter and Davies will presumably be joining him again in the same capacity. As evidenced by these new songs, they have something of a solid creative relationship.
While John Carpenter will always be known best as a legendary filmmaker, particular for his work in the horror genre, music has been a big part of his career the whole way. Carpenter composed music for many of his movies, including Dark Star, Assault on Precinct 13, The Fog, Escape From New York, Big Trouble In Little China and Prince of Darkness, among others. Carpenter is also responsible for the iconic Halloween theme, which is one of the most recognizable touchstones from the long-running franchise. That is why having him back for the 2018 reboot was so crucial.
Those interested in pre-ordering the vinyl copy of Skeleton can do so now. The record will be released on August 28. There are several variant editions being pressed. A hand-cut “bone records” version, which is limited to 100 copies, a “Blood Red” edition (2000 copies), a “Skeleton Bones” mailorder exclusive (500 copies), a “Hemoglobin” Bandcamp exclusive (500 copies), a “Blood Splatter” End of an Ear exclusive (300 copies) and the “X-Ray” Sacred Bones Record Society exclusive (150 copies). Unfortunately, the “Blood Red” and “X-Ray” editions are already sold out. To grab a copy, head on over to Sacred Bones Records. You can stream both tracks via the YouTube links we’ve included.
