This week’s score track from Secrets Beneath the Floorboards accompanies a classic “heroine ferreting out increasingly dire secrets” scene. These moments often involve lead actors peering at computer monitors with growing concern, presenting an opportunity for music to amp up the energy.

This being a big “a-ha!” moment in the story, it’s the first time we hear the score’s main theme in full. Previously, said theme peeped up in the form of a four-note ascending motive, sometimes leading into other melodies. (Here’s the theme’s more rustic cousin earlier in the film.) Elaborated here, a piano repeats and transforms that four-note sequence, turning it into a proper melody.

This week’s music selection from Secrets Beneath the Floorboards accompanies a moment near the start of the film, where our heroine is attending the funeral of her abusive husband. Though her mental state is fairly dark, she’s surrounded by supportive people. (Well, supportive people and a nosy cop; this is a thriller, after all.) I thus made the score lean towards being empathetic, as if it were also a loved one providing comfort.

As you probably figured out from the title, this week’s music selection has something of a romantic tone. In the accompanying scene in Lifetime’s “Secrets Beneath the Floorboards”, a dinner for two takes a turn for the amorous.

In this blog I like to reference how composers recycle ideas. Here, the repeating four-note piano motive is just the film’s main theme wearing nice evening clothes.

A relatively subtle suspense cue, this week’s selection shows my belief that tense music ought to feature more kalimba.