This week’s music from Lady Usher is short but sweet. Well, short but macabre. Once the heroine has entered the Usher domain, the visuals become dark and oppressive, and the music shifts accordingly.

One great thing about a string quartet is the ability to convey agitation in a very intimate, almost claustrophobic way. (Whereas a full string section sounds both richer and more distanced, by nature.) We’ll hear more of this sound as we continue into the creepier parts of the score.

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.