Inbox Jukebox Track of the Day: "Gassed," the Dramatic Highlight of Bobby Krlic's Midsommar Soundtrack

Published: July 17, 2019
The ominous "Gassed" sounds like THE musical epiphany of Bobby Krlic's phenomenal Midsommar soundtrack. by Dave Segal
(Haxan) Cloaked in dread.
(Haxan) Cloaked in dread. YouTube screengrab from the Midsommar OST

Bobby Krlic, "Gassed" (Milan)

I haven't seen Ari Aster's Midsommar yet, but it's on my to-do list. In the meantime, thankfully, I can revel in the soundtrack by Bobby Krlic (aka Haxan Cloak). On first listen, Krlic's score sounds like an exemplar of subtle chamber-orchestral menace and creepiness, not unlike Mica Levi's work on Under the Skin—highest praise in my book. There are also moments of spectral majesty, e.g., "The Blessing" and "Fire Temple." As my colleague Rich Smith wrote on Slog, "Ari Aster's film isn't even that scary. But the mechanisms he uses to produce the horror, not least of all Bobby Krlic's brain-altering score, so completely unsettled my reality that I felt freaked-out all night." All of which only increases my desire to check out this Scando horror movie.

"Gassed," though... "Gassed" is the one. Its fibrillating violins and forlorn drones recall England's great Third Ear Band in an anguished mood (by the way, they did the soundtrack to Roman Polanski's Macbeth). But around halfway in, ominous beats start dropping, gradually accelerating into a variation on an archetypal Native American rhythm and the violins wail in a semi-panicked vibrato before everything downshifts into an uneasy denouement. I have to assume that this piece accompanied a revelatory dramatic scene in Midsommar. (NO SPOILERS!) Damn, why are my knuckles so white?

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