Moviescore Media releases the soundtrack to the South African fantasy art film Gaia, by Pierre-Henry Wicomb. In the movie, directed by Jaco Bouwer, a park ranger in a primordial forest brings her into contact with two survivalists living a post-apocalyptic lifestyle. The boy and his father have their own religion and a strange link with nature. The forest seems to have magical elements which emanate from a possibly divine presence. Wicomb’s music has been showcased at festivals around the world. There is something both natural and supernatural about the events in the film, and the composer has accordingly gone for a tribal sound with acoustic instruments and a layered electronic ambience...

Track List: 'Gaia', 'Lives Separated', 'Hunter Gatherers', 'Mushroom Apostles', 'Mycelium Malice', 'We Cannot Stay', 'His God', 'I Made Room', 'Stop Knowing', 'Mind Peripheries', 'The Offering', 'You Need to Leave Me Here', 'This Was Always a Test', 'A City Helpless', 'Summer as Spring', 'This Is Your God'.

This one is difficult to quantify due to its unusual format. I would even go as far as to say it’s both brilliant and extremely dull. A very outré soundscape environment is created here using mostly pagan instruments such as the flute, the Tibetan horn and the dungchen, which Buddhist monks use to accompany the chanting of religious tests. Accordingly, a haunting sing-song mix of spooky, otherworldly sounds is created. I hesitate to use the word ‘melody’ because the truth is there aren’t any. The closest it gets is in 'Summer As Spring', which is the most structured piece. The melancholy strings come as a pleasant surprise, regardless of its short 2½ minute length.

The track titles are very descriptive, pinpointing obvious and specific pivotal points in the film. However, this works in associating these events with an off-kilter earthy quality, but leaves behind a standalone soundtrack which is essentially just seemingly random sounds. Just when a rattling beat begins, it often stops to be replaced with random noises – often replicated from other tracks but subtly changed or moved in terms of placement or intensity. Rumbling, discordant, sinister, chugging and tribal sounds become loud ringing or weird monstrous bestial cries, and there is no light and shade in terms of emotional moods. It proves to be a constant. No matter how it is dressed-up it amounts to the same tricks being rearranged.

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Ty Power