You Want It Darker: John Carpenter to Go Noir on New ‘Lost Themes’ Album

Known more for his horror and action films than the noir genre, filmmaker John Carpenter will embrace his inner Bogie on his upcoming album of soundtracks for movies that don’t exist, Lost Themes No. 4: “Noir.” Of course, he’s doing it his way, as the single, “My Name Is Death,” shows.

The music, which Carpenter recorded with his longtime collaborators — Cody Carpenter (his son) and Daniel Davies (his godson) — throbs with propulsive bass and icy synths. Where Hitchcock movies used composer Bernard Herrmann’s piercing strings and The Third Man used whimsical zither, Carpenter and Co. make music that sounds like it could be from a John Carpenter movie, just with more shadows.

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After all, the interplay of light and pitch black are what made noir movies so great, and filmmaker Ambar Navarro’s music video for “My Name Is Death” pays tribute to the genre’s look. The six-minute clip stars Natalie Mering (Weyes Blood), Staz Lindes (The Paranoyds), and Misha Lindes (SadGirl) dressed like they’re on a caper in the Thirties as the musicians play their synths and eyes peep through keyholes. It builds to the sort of ending you’d expect from a noir film, plus an electric guitar solo.

“Noir is a uniquely American genre born in post-war cinema,” Carpenter in a statement. “We grew up loving noir and were influenced by it for this new album. The video celebrates this style and our new song, ‘My Name Is Death.'”

The project, Davies said, began with images. “Sandy [King, John’s wife and producer] had given John a book for Christmas, of pictures from noir films, all stills from that era,” he said. “I was looking through it, and I thought, ‘I like that imagery, and what those titles make me think of. What if we loosely based it around that? What if the titles were of some of John’s favorite noir films?'”

The album is the trio’s first collection of standalone music following the third Lost Themes in 2021. Since then, they’ve written scores for Halloween Kills, Firestarter, and Halloween Ends. Carpenter returned to directing last year for the Peacock miniseries Suburban Screams, which looked at real-life scary stories set in small towns.

Lost Themes IV: Noir track list:

1. “My Name Is Death “
2. “Machine Fear”
3. “Last Rites”
4. “The Burning Door”
5. “He Walks by Night”
6. “Beyond the Gallows”
7. “Kiss the Blood Off My Fingers”
8. “Guillotine”
9. “The Demon’s Shadow”
10. “Shadows Have a Thousand Eyes”

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