Reykjavík Grapevine - 11.11.2016, Qupperneq 32

Music 32The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 17 — 2016
‘Fantômas’ is a haunting, sus-
penseful, crime-ridden album
full of crooks, clumsy policemen,
and bustling Parisian street life.
If this sounds more like a movie
than an album, that’s because
it’s both. Amiina’s forthcoming
album, released November 26 by
Mengi, was composed as a score
to the 1913 silent thriller of the
same name. We asked the band to
walk us through each track. Spoil-
er alert.
Fantômas
As we started to work on the
soundtrack to the 1913 silent
film ‘Juve contre Fantômas’, we
started right at the beginning of
it, fitting musical ideas with the
introduction titles and the iconic
ever-changing faces of the evil
Fantômas. In this track many of
the motifs used later on the al-
bum can be heard, for example
the Fantômas theme.
Juve & Fandor
This track is composed around
the clumsy and comic police cou-
ple that never succeed in catching
the evil Fantômas. It ends down
in the basement of a deserted
haunted villa...
Paris
This little tune, a waltz, came
from playing around with the at-
mosphere of the busy streets of
Paris in 1913. A beautiful woman
awaits Fantômas, who then se-
cretly passes her a letter with in-
formation on the next steps for
the big crime. After a goofy car
chase we end up on a train.
Café
Another tune that was brought to
life through footage of bustling
Paris street life. A man orders a
glass of wine at street café as he
waits for the woman he's chasing.
And again we end up on the train,
that leads us to the next track.
Simplon Express
We composed this track quite
early on in the process, since it is
one of the more dramatic scenes
of the film.
The criminal plot that has been
in the brewing is revealed here:
The armed robbery on the train,
resulting in a brutal train crash
with the Simplon Express, where
the two policemen manage to es-
cape at the last minute.
Telegram
This track captures the atmo-
sphere of devious plans in the
making, aimed to lure the police
into a trap. Telegrams are sent.
There is fog by the river.
Entrepôts De Bercy
The shooting scene. The cops
are ambushed by Fantômas and
his gang, and end up hiding in
wine barrels and rolling into the
Seine... Slightly bizarre and fea-
turing sounds of the Venice la-
goon recorded during sound check
at the Venice Biennale in 2009.
Crocodile
A slightly melancholic dance tune
set at the fashionable Crocodile
restaurant. Two policemen are
spying on Fantómas. And there is
dancing and drinking. The scene
ends with the two policemen
catching Fantómas, but he gets
away. The music emphasizes that
with a little drum action in the
end of the song...

Lady Beltham
Melancholic little tune about
the turmoil that follows dating a
sympathetic criminal. It's hard...
Borreau Silencieux
More action. A big snake. Weird
costumes. Men hiding in baskets.
And a song that is all that.
L’homme Noir
Action time. Fantómas enters the
haunted villa, followed by at least
a hundred policemen. He man-
ages to hide and the movie ends
with Fantómas blowing up the
haunted villa. The song is full of
effects and a lot of string action
and drum action… and it is ridic-
ulously fast!
LISTEN &SHARE:
gpv.is/tbt17
Words PARKER YAMASAKI and AMIINA
TRACK BY TRACK
‘Fantômas’
by amiina
LET’S
TACO
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