Death & Vanilla @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle (10.10.25)

Image by Lee Fisher

A hauntological touchstone, 1968’s Whistle & I’ll Come To You – a fabled BBC adaptation of the MR James ghost story – is unlikely to trouble horror fans in this A24 era but can still summon a clammy dread if you’re attuned to its subtle eeriness. The final shot of stuffy professor Michael Hordern reduced to a thumb-sucking infant is, appropriately, particularly haunting. And despite being as English as bunting sagging in the rain at a disappointing school fete, you can see why its alarming charms appealed to Malmo’s Death & Vanilla, who added it to their series of live film scores, after Vampyr and The Tenant. Which is why D&V’s first visit to Newcastle isn’t a regular gig but one of a short run of dates live-scoring the movie.

After a short introduction by the clearly lovely Marleen Nilsson, the trio – arranged on either side of the screen – settle into a truly sympatico soundtrack for the short film, a soundtrack that brings their strengths to the fore: a library music / Ghost Box / analogue synth-infused 40 minutes that foregrounds vintage Radiophonic Workshop sounds and effects, plangent synths (sometimes recalling Boards of Canada or Plone) and a deep, earthy bass tone. Always avoiding horror soundtrack cliches (despite the occasional nod to John Carpenter) the music is nonetheless the right kind of unsettling. The brevity of the film meant that we also got a couple of extra pieces after it finished – a lovely improvised track and then deep cut From Elsewhere, from their debut album, a wonderfully creepy lullaby. Wonderful stuff, although I can’t help hoping for a swift return for a ‘regular’ gig because hearing California Owls or The Hum live would be delicious.