This week’s cue comes from the film A Chrismystery, wherein protagonist mom/cop Annie feels contrition after an interpersonal conflict.

The melody begins with the film’s main theme in mirror inversion, meaning that every time a note climbs in the original theme it now descends, and vice versa. This technique doesn’t always produce a musically interesting result, but in this case it created a nicely melancholy tune that still felt related to the movie’s core melody.

In the feature film A Chrismystery, the reluctant sheriff of a quaint Missouri town finds herself amidst the locals, decidedly not sharing their holiday cheer. (Or that of the warm orchestral score.)

This music here reflects the town’s welcoming atmosphere, and perhaps gently pokes fun at Annie as she grumpily questions the colorful residents.

This is one of those cues that was ridiculously fun to write. (Actually, it’s a medley of two related cues.) The Skullcano region of the game Wizard Ops Tactics had a spy-movie-evil-villain theme, so naturally I went whole hog composing a tribute to the James Bond music tradition. I offer both thanks and apologies to John Barry and Monty Norman.

Since I wanted continuity with the rest of the game’s music, the various Wizard Ops themes get smuggled into the mix, transformed into jazzy brass stabs and string lines.

This atmospheric cue from “Wizard Ops Tactics” evokes the game’s swamp level, a dark and ominous place. The central musical idea is an ostinato (fancy term for a recurring and typically rhythmic musical pattern) which is just the game’s main theme sort of flattened out. It’s also in 7/8 time, giving it an uneven, lurching feel… perhaps like trudging through a swamp!

Yes I agree, that was a little on the nose. Anyway, enjoy the sonic swampiness.

Following the fine “sturm und drang” orchestral tradition, this week’s piece evokes the moody premonitions and dark energy of an approaching storm. The strings do most of the heavy lifting, delivering the main theme at the music’s climax after earlier statements by the winds. (No pun intended.)

Neil Biondich’s film Valkyrie is about a teen girl haunted by precognition. This week’s music accompanies a moment of quiet but intense disclosure about the protagonist’s past. To capture the mix of reflection and tension, I combined a warm, up-close piano with ambient synths and processed cello harmonics. A little echo effect on the piano provides a smidge of supernaturalism.

This week’s cue accompanies one of the bad guys in the game Wizard Ops: a hulking, missile-spewing worm. (I hate when I find one of those in my lawn.)

For this belligerent invertebrate I wrote an apocalyptic piece for chorus, orchestra, and pulsing drums. The choir chants the words “chaos” and “maker”, the latter being part of the final boss’ name.

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This excerpt from the score for Tales of the Dread-Naught Kid features solo bassoon playing a quirky jig. Just the right kind of music for maritime puzzle-solving.

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