Sinoia Caves
Beyond the Black Rainbow (Death Waltz/Jagjaguwar)

The soundtrack market has hit its renaissance, with vintage scores from countless cult classics making their way onto vinyl via boutique specialists like the Death Waltz Recording Company. Having made its name by pressing Fabio Frizzi–delivered soundscapes for Lucio Fulci horror flicks, the imprint is now saluting Jeremy Schmidt’s (aka Sinoia Caves’) soundtrack for the locally made sci-fi feature Beyond the Black Rainbow.

Co-released with Jagjaguwar, the synth-strewn aural experience is now presented outside of Panos Cosmatos’s prismatic psychological drama. Still, Sinoia Caves warps the brain on moody pieces like “Forever Dilating Eye”, which penetrates the pineal gland with a therapeutic pulse of keyboards and creepy Mellotron. A swirl of shadow-casting organs and ’70s prog synths lends a Phantasm-like quality to “Run Program: Sentionauts”. Schmidt’s series of haunted drones reaches its apex with the 16-minute “1966—Let the New Age of Enlightenment Begin”, an epic assemblage of airy tones intended to terrify.

While recalling the chilling minimalism of John Carpenter scores and the giallo grooves of Goblin, Sinoia Caves transcends tribute, making Beyond the Black Rainbow a modern-day masterpiece for soundtrack fiends.