Berberian Sound Studio

Released almost exactly two years after Broadcast singer Trish Keenan's sudden death from pneumonia, Berberian Sound Studio is the soundtrack of a film by British director Peter Strickland. The film is 1970s-set psychological horror film about the mental breakdown of a sound artist working on an Italian giallo film (a particular subset of pulpy erotic thrillers) with a title that deliberately recalls the singular art-song diva of the 20th century, Cathy Berberian; so obviously, Broadcast was fated to create its soundtrack. On their own merits, these 39 tracks -- only two of which cross the two-minute mark -- don't really constitute a traditional album. If anything, these brief, melancholy music cues deliberately recall the library music LPs (generic, copyright-free film music recorded in the '60s and '70s) that Keenan and her musical partner James Cargill always quoted as one of Broadcast's primary influences. Entirely instrumental except for some brief snatches of wordless vocals from Keenan in the style of Italian soundtrack legend Edda dell'Orso, the album sets an effectively creepy, disorienting mood. But think of it as what it is: an odd yet charming little farewell curio.