Blog fave Melt Motif released their latest project today, and Kenneth Rasmus Greve was kind enough to share and discuss it with me. I’ve written about Melt Motif here before – they produce dark, industrial-adjacent, dystopian music that sounds like it belongs on a film soundtrack. I noted this especially for a couple of their recent releases, including single Red Velvet Ant and their latest full length album of remixes, Vandalism Volume 2. I also predicted that I’d be writing more about them in the future.
I’m not often right about things, but I nailed this one.
It’s the soundtrack to a film that isn’t out yet, a collaboration with visual artist and animator Erik Ferguson (who I wrote about here). It’s called Pilgrim. Here’s the gorgeous, creepy video/trailer:
Even though Greve and Ferguson had crossed paths before while Greve worked as a creative director at an ad agency, it was the film’s production company that reached out to the band, thinking that their music would be a stylistic match. When Greve realized that Erik would be the creative force, “it was a big YES”.
The soundtrack itself is on brand for Melt Motif — moody, dark, and unconventional. There are only two tracks with vocals on the album. The vocals themselves were a late addition to the process, to provide what Greve calls a ‘musical ‘safe place’ amidst the noise and chaos’.
Greve also told me that one of the inspirations for the soundtrack was Miles Davis’ 1969 fusion album In A Silent Way. In his words:
He has this recurring progression (motif (!)) going through 20 minutes. Sometimes, they move away from the theme but always return to the same repeating notes. We did the same, and even tho it got a bit buried as we went on, you can still hear a progression of chords repeated at different parts of the soundtrack. We used a Moog Subharmonicon synth to create this foundation.
They have worked on this soundtrack for more than a year. The film is still in production, but if the teaser above and Ferguson’s other work is any indication, it’ll be nightmare fuel.
Greve says they have a lot in the pipeline — an upcoming remix of a track from the new Thief record, and more than 30 demos to kickstart the next Melt Motif album cycle. No rest for the wicked.