After being bombarded with promos at work (at one point it was the company-wide forced Windows wallpaper), out of curiosity last year we started watching Showtime's Penny Dreadful. I have to admit that the story got off to a rather slow start, but it was intriguing enough that we stuck with it, and it's now become one of my most anticipated viewings every week. As we were watching the last episode, I realized how much I liked the theme, Deminonde, so I went off to iTunes and grabbed the whole album.
No regrets whatsoever on that purchase. I can only describe it as atmospheric. Kind of moody, kind of reflective, with a contemplative undertone running throughout. It immediately became my go-to commute music, offering a nice, quiet counterpoint to the abrasive stupidity I encounter on Denver highways, and great music to write to.
I'd never heard of this particular composer, Abel Korzeniowski, but I'm hearing a lot of different influences in the music. In Street. Horse. Smell. Candle. I almost felt he was paying homage to James Newton Howard's Signs soundtrack.
PENNY DREADFUL Soundtrack Will Unsettle and Disturb
Showtime's Penny Dreadful provided a story caught between horror and poetry with long monologues, superior acting and immaculate costume work. These aspects created a very strong tone, but the score was the final touch — solidifying the never ending, disturbed and unsettling mood. Composer Abel Korzeniowski (A Single Man, W.E.) proves that he is more than adept at creating a horrifying, creeping tingle that will climb up any listener's spines. The Gothic horror sounds of the orchestra Korzeniowski uses transport listeners to a dark old London where the walls are alive and the hairs on their neck stand on end.
There is a very clear overall feel to the soundtrack. The order of the songs could be randomized and the tone would remain the same. After the opening with "Demimonde" (the opening theme of the show) the listener will be treated to a crushing song, "First Blood", delivering a haunting sense of impending doom. It will be hard for some listeners to sit still with the strings and drums pushing their ears and minds to run as fast as they can. Many of the tracks are beautiful (particularly "Dorian Gray"), nearly appropriate for what one would imagine dancing was like in old London. These tracks, though less creepy, never lose the dark tones, there is always an impending sense of horror, darkness and futility.
Penny Dreadful's soundtrack is everything that a film composer wants. It not only fits within the tone of the show but can create it without any visuals. Korzeniowski has proven himself as a TV Drama series composer with this album and will hopefully return for the second season. The vibrant sounds of this album are sure to please any fans of classical or soundtrack music, as well as anyone seeking to be unsettled with beauty, after all "to be beautiful is to be almost dead."
If you haven't seen the series, check out the teasers below: