Album review: Broadcast, Berberian Sound Studio (Warp)

Berberian Sound Studio is the soundtrack to a Peter Strickland film about a sound recordist's descent into madness whilst working in an Italian film studio.

Appropriately, it's presented as 39 miniature sonic studies in the vein of European "library music" fragments, interspersed with dialogue clips from the movie and sound effects to evoke the protagonist's deteriorating mindset. Some pieces, like "Mark of the Devil", are abstract blends of swirling synth and industrial gas noise; others, such as "The Equestrian Vortex", utilise jazzy drums and organ in a prog-rock style. Most effective are those tracks, including "Collatina, Mark of Damnation", which employ the childlike vocals of Broadcast's late singer Trish Keenan.

Download: The Equestrian Vortex; Teresa, Lark of Ascension; Collatina, Mark of Damnation