If you’re into hauntingly beautiful dystopian cinematic music that will take you on a journey, then I invite you to check out the soundtrack for the movie ‘The Rogue Barrens’ by Jacquie Joy from Australia! Listen to the soundtrack on Spotify here:
https://open.spotify.com/album/4dCIdqIXyuWHBRkfqfQY9r?si=cBOo6g_KRBa1Fg2rnra8IA
I had the pleasure of listening to a previous soundtrack done by Joy for a different movie, you can read all about that in my review here: @tanbay/night-hunter-original-soundtrack-by-jacquie-joy-album-review It is not surprising to me that she got hired again for another film and I am pleased to say that Joy even won a competition in order to get the opportunity to create a soundtrack for ‘The Rogue Barrens’. Just like I said in my previous review of the album for ‘Night Hunter’, I am still very impressed by Jacquie Joys skill to perfectly tailor music to a variety of scenes and make each scene really come to life!
Album review
Since this album is the original Soundtrack for the movie ‘The Rogue Barrens’, it makes sense to include the trailer for the movie, so here it is:
If you enjoyed watching the trailer and if you’re a fan of the genre, you might as well watch the entire movie, since it’s free for anyone to watch on YouTube. However, I should give a warning, since it is very depressing and dystopian. It actually reminds me a lot of Black Mirror Season 4, Episode 5: Metalhead. Having said that, the movie is obviously a much lower budget. You can watch the movie for free here:
The album starts off with a composition called ‘Memories of the Future’ and I think it’s fair to say it does a great job at giving the listener a feel of what this movie is all about. It has very strong ‘Black Mirror’ vibes and I love the synth opening that is building up the intensity. When the drums properly kick in at about 1 minute this song even starts to rock a little! After listening to it several times, it also reminds me a little of Jeff Wayne’s Musical version of ‘The War of the Worlds’. The last 30 seconds get a little calmer, but overall I’d still describe them as rather intense. The second track is called ‘The Rogue Barrens Title Crawl’. As the title suggests, this is the main title theme, which is perhaps one of the most dystopian sounding themes I have ever heard. Listening to this makes me think it is only a matter of time before Netflix will be asking Joy to make a Soundtrack for one of their next dystopian themed shows (of which I’m sure they have many lined up). I’m also loving the synth-sounds again and the mixture of quite traditional sounds or samples, mixed with very modern ones. The percussion starts at around 1 minute and this time it is kept very simple, almost like a marching beat, but slower and with breaks to make it sound even more sinister.
While the previous compositions are very dark, there is a tiny sense of hope in this third song titled ‘Out of the Undercity, which is good to hear. The mixture of strings make it darker as the song progresses. The synths almost remind me of a heartbeat and the strings at the end rip all sense of hope away from you and leave you wanting to hear more. You can hear this song being used at about 5 minutes into the film, when the main character leaves the Undercity (hence the title) and it really makes the scene shine. It shows the happiness of the main character leaving, but also all the fear, uncertainty and doubt that he still has. The following track is called ‘A Sign of good Faith’. Here, the instruments are starting to sound even more grand and dark at the same time. This is sounding so dark, it could almost be for a horror film, but once again the percussion makes it clear that this is all about dystopia.
The next song is titled ‘He wasn’t Human’. This track carries on where the previous one ended and in the movie this song is used when a killing is discussed. As the title tells the listener, the ‘person’ who is described in the scene with this song in the background wasn’t human, but nevertheless it obviously had serious consequences for the person who did the act they discuss in the movie. The composition underlines the fear and the hopeless that the person who did the crime must have felt. The percussions that start at about 22 seconds into the song really takes this tune to the next level, in my opinion. Once again the entire scene is elevated by the soundtrack. Composition 6 is called ‘Hearing Voices’. Listening to this track definitely gives you an idea of what the characters in the film are going through at that stage of their bitter journey. Just like the previous composition, this one is over rather quickly (1 minute), but it is packed with emotions and let’s just say I’m glad I’m not listening to this at night!
The Great Forage and Journey to the Border reminds me of something I wrote in my previous review, which is that Joy does a great job making the most of synthesiser sounds and there is a darkness in this that just takes over. The sounds come in long waves, but this time there is more synth sounds going on than in the soundtrack for ‘Night Hunter’. This is perfect timing, as 80’s inspired shows like ‘Stranger Things’ are all the rage at the time of writing this.
Song 9 is titled ‘Dreaming of Nomads’. This is another composition that carries a little more hope, the beginning in particular sounds almost happy, which is very nice to hear and makes sense for the part of the movie where it is used. This composition does a great job at capturing what dreams could sound like and might sound lie to some people. It does get darker as it progresses, which is similar to waking up, or having a dream turn into a nightmare. There is also a piano in it that sounds beautiful and the strings on top of it are like the icing on a cake. Just as the dreamy Nomad song is still in my mind, the next composition, called ‘Always Watching’, starts and this might be the darkest one yet. This one features a lot of amazing build ups, as well as effects. It gets a little calmer at the end, the violin sounds hauntingly beautiful and the entire song ends on a very dark note.’ Wasteland’ is another shorter composition that does have a degree of hope and a little positivity in it (sound-wise), yet it also sounds somewhat mysterious. This is a welcome change and shows the versatility of Joy as a composer, as well as her ability to carry the viewer of the move swiftly from one scene to another via sound. ’Spotted’ is one of the longest compositions on this album and it is full of suspense. As the title suggests, this composition is used in the scene where the main characters are ‘spotted’ and needless to say the scene is very intense. The percussion in this is outstanding and almost makes me think Joy should be a drummer in a rock band!
’Razor’s Edge’ is another very dark and spooky sounding song, which almost gives me alien vibes if I just listen to it without watching the movie. There are also some vocals going on every now and then. This really adds even more depth to it and just really works, in my opinion. The following song is titled ‘Boris Root’ and the percussions shine once again. As if Joy can read my mind, there are lots of vocals in this one, which adds more depth (just like in the previous track). Track 15 is titled ‘The Augury’. Here, we get a little glimpse of hope again and I just love the synth sounds. It almost reminds me of whales under water trying to communicate. But then it gets rather dark again halfway through and the dystopian theme takes over. ’Delirium’ has some great synth effects in the beginning, it even reminds me a little of a band I used to listen to a lot, called Angels & Airwaves. The theme of this composition changes and gets darker at about 1 minute and I love the high pitched string sounds in this. The second to last composition is called ‘I don’t Know Anymore’ and it kinda continues where ‘Delirium’ ended, but it gets much more sinister sounding. The album ends with the song ‘Aftermath’ and let’s just say it doesn’t sound like there is much of a happy ending going on in the movie. The strings and synthesiser sounds will leave you utterly hopeless and sad, which is exactly the way it should be for such a dystopian movie.
Final thoughts
Just like the previous Soundtrack for the movie ‘Night Hunter’, I am very impressed by the composing skills, the mixing and mastering as well as the production quality of this soundtrack! I am sure we will hear many more compositions for movies, Shows and a wide range of content from this very talented Australian Composer. For all those reasons I can only recommend you check out the soundtrack for the movie ’The Rogue Barrens’ by Jacquie Joy! Here are some more links for you:
Facebook☞ https://www.facebook.com/jacquiejoy.composer.7/
Instagram☞ https://www.instagram.com/jacquiejoycomposer/
Twitter☞ https://twitter.com/ComposerJoy
Linkedin☞ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacquie-joy-128148170/
Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post, however, all opinions are my own. Content of the artist in this post is used with permission, no copyright is violated.