In this moody cue from the film Lady Usher, Morgan arrives at the foreboding mansion of … well, see the title. The score’s string quartet is joined by harp, adding a hint of delicacy to the disquieting setting.

The romance theme introduced earlier recurs throughout, here more subdued in its hopefulness. (Spoiler alert: at this point in the film, the carefree times are behind us.)

After saying goodbye to her bestie, Morgan hops on a train to pursue her troubled boyfriend Roderick, who has mysteriously disappeared into the House of Usher. (Sound familiar?)

This music accompanies the departure with a mini-scherzo for string quartet — optimistic and determined, but with some agitation. The mood turns creepier as Morgan emerges onto a desolate, dusty road.

(Sharp-eared obsessives will notice a minor-mode restatement of Morgan’s theme from the prior “Romance” cue.)

Straight outa the soundtrack of the film Lady Usher, this tender cue for solo strings and guitar accompanies a moment of respite before the film’s macabre mood arrives in full force.

This week continues the music selections from the score of the film Lady Usher.

This understated cue plays during a foreboding discussion. As dialogue music, its two jobs are to 1) establish the mood and 2) not be so busy as to interfere with speech. A rising and falling viola solo creates a sense of uneasiness about what’s to come.

This week I begin sharing music from my fourth feature film collaboration with George Adams, Lady Usher. This one is relatively recent, score recording having wrapped last December.

A modern re-setting of Edgar Allen Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, the movie opens with a romantic vignette of the two protagonists.

The theme introduced here, as a lyrical prelude for guitar and string quartet, will recur throughout the movie in darker form as the plot unfolds.

Cortopia’s Down the Rabbit Hole wraps with the anonymous adventurer confronting the Queen of Hearts at her birthday party. This week’s music accompanies the showdown.

My concept for the score was something celebratory, but evocative of the Queen’s ornery persona. For the latter, I used the contrabassoon, the bassoon’s larger sibling, who here periodically intrudes upon the regal strains of the strings and harpsichord.

Listen to the music at the usual places below.

Spotify:

Apple Music:

YouTube: (no subscription required)

The King of Hearts has had way too many tarts. Late in Cortopia’s VR game Down the Rabbit Hole, the player contends with a king who has grown to epic proportions.

I wasn’t super subtle in my musical characterization of the over-fed monarch: he gets a tuba solo.

Listen to the music at the usual places below.

Spotify:

Apple Music:

YouTube: (no subscription required)

Much of the score for Cortopia’s “Down the Rabbit Hole” has a fantasy or neo-Baroque character, reflecting the game’s setting and pompous resident aristocracy. This week’s cue, in contrast, is more like a 19th-century symphonic march. I restricted the instrumentation to winds and percussion in order to make the music feel less lush and more stern.

Listen to the music for free at the usual places below.

(Also, check out my interview about this score on Kate Remington’s fantastic Music Respawn game music podcast!)

Spotify:

Apple Music:

YouTube: (no subscription required)