Lakeshore Records release the second volume of music from Mr. Robot, composed by Mac Quayle. The TV series follows Elliot, a young programmer who works as a cyber-security engineer by day and as a vigilante hacker by night.  Elliot finds himself at a crossroads when the mysterious leader of an underground hacker group recruits him to destroy the firm he is paid to protect.  Compelled by his personal beliefs, Elliot struggles to resist the chance to take down the multinational CEOs he believes are running (and ruining) the world...

Mac Quayle turns in yet another interesting collection of electronic cues for Mr. Robot. While this won't be to everyone's liking, the futuristic, electronic score perfectly captures the spirit of the show. I also loved the track titles, which all read like file extensions.

The album contains 23 tracks (1 hr, 13 min, 2 sec) and, like my review of the first volume, my overriding impression was that this was a little like a cross between a Jean Michel Jarre album and Vangelis's work on Blade Runner.

This volume isn't quite as interesting as volume 1, however there are a couple of notable tracks. '1.9_1-waltznumber2.bwf' is a reworking of Dmitri Shostakovichof's Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 2. while '1.9_4-forcerobotshand.sd2' is a rather unsettling mechanical, repetitive piece.

A lot of people may be put off by the fact that this is basically a score full of electronic music cues, but if you're a fan of the show you're bound to get a lot more out of it.

6

Darren Rea