KARL BARTOS

THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI

Karl Bartos is one of few men who truly knows about life in Kraftwerk, and doomed to being forever asked what it was like being in this most influential of bands. The upside? Dude, you were in bloody Kraftwerk...

For his first album in 11 years, Bartos has reimagined the soundtrack to The Cabinet Of

Dr. Caligari. Directed by Robert Wiene in 1920, it was a German expressionist masterpiece widely considered to be the first horror movie, which followed a creepy hypnotist, who controlled a future-predicting somnambulist.

As you can imagine, the vibe here is dark and tense throughout, but not without light. Composed on piano and computer, Bartos’ classical and electronic blend is faithful to the source material, setting the scene in Prologue with ominous chords and space to lure in the listener and viewer. Tracks such as In The Town Hall nod to both Bach and Kraftwerk, showing there wasn’t that much of a distance between them after all.

The queasy, whirring barrel organs of At The Funfair nod to Steve Reich and ratchet up a foreboding atmosphere, as does the actual theme which balances between minimalism and a romantic Mozart-ish flavour. With many tracks coming in at less than one minute, gorgeous moments such as Jane’s Theme and Francis’ Observation are frustratingly brief.

More satisfying are longer tracks such as Cesare’s Attack And Escape, which combines a cosmic ambience and suspenseful dimensions. You feel immersed in the claustrophobia of Cesare’s predicament via the baroque Caligari’s Deception, the restive Lunatic Asylum, the musique concrete sound collage of Who’s Mad Here? and in the film’s denouement of Francis Rants

And Rages. The latter leads to a reminder of the themes throughout in the closing Epilogue. Without the source material to reference, Bartos’ score does a fine job of homaging the spooksome film and remains respectful of the era.

This is very much a full-on movie soundtrack, packed with characterful motifs – and best listened to in context – yet Bartos makes it work perfectly as a standalone album.