Although most recently known for making instrumental music as Aptøsrs, Paul Terry has a long and sonically storied career under his belt. SkyBabyRecords, a label he set up with one purpose in mind, has been the conduit through which his music has arrived in the wider world for the last 25 years.
Given that the label has reached one of those magical numbers, it seems the perfect time to put out a career retrospective (to date, this isn’t him waving a fond farewell to the music business) to mark the occasion. The great thing about such a release is that we get to follow Paul through his sonic evolution via a few choice cuts and musical chapters, and it is a fascinating journey, to say the least.
Just the first two songs hint at the broad range of sound and style, form and function that we are presented with: “The Lone Moon Incident,” a cinematic and haunting slice of orchestral soundscaping, is followed by Cellarscape’s “Epinephrine,” a creeping and slow-burning piece of shimmering, violin-soaked indie.
Paul Terry has always surrounded himself with the great and good of the music world, as evidenced by songs such as his gorgeous duet, “The Same Place,” with Dutch singer-songwriter Anneke van Giersbergen or with British actress/vocalist Joanna Horton taking the lead vocals on “He Suits Me Fine,” the central title theme from comedy-drama The Wake and a groovesome slice of jazzy R&B. And then there are moments of high drama and atmospheric cinematic soundtracking with tracks like Aptøsrs “Encore, Vredefort.”
Space dictates that I only get to mention a few highlights, but with 25 tracks, there is plenty going on here, and even those choice cuts barely cover his career (so far) composing music for all genres of film from horror to thriller, drama to comedy projects, and songwriting across all known genres – acoustic, rock, orchestral, jazz, electronic, and metal and plenty of tracks that probably don’t fit neatly into any pigeonhole. Always a good sign, if you ask me.
Not only an excellent overview of an impressive quarter of a century of music making but a damn fine gathering of songs.
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