Wake Wood is the one solitary score Michael Convertino has been credited with since 2004. As everything about the man is a mystery, the reasons for his disappearance and reappearance are completely unknown. It’s true that he had worked before with the director (on The Last of the High Kings in 1996), but that was a long time ago and the project hadn’t been the scene of a major Convertino score. And it’s also true that his main collaborators that may have tempted him back have been just as quiet recently. Randa Haines is all but retired from the big screen and Alan Mindell, Convertino’s most frequent hirer of late, hasn’t made a squeek since Milwaukee, Minnesota in 2003. Based on announcements made on release of We Don’t Live Here Anymore, Convertino had a photography exhibit and was planning to direct. Maybe with his sights elsewhere, he didn’t have the time to devote to scoring any more and was perhaps financially secure.
But offered a job in Wake Wood he was, and come back he did. Based on details online, it appears the film may have been complete (with / without score?) as early as 2009, but wasn’t released until 2011. If Convertino had scored it as early as 2009, that means that he was already long since gone again by the time anyone was aware of his comeback.
It’s a horror score, but done in electronics instead of grand symphonics. Although I’m a fan of orchestral horror (Goldsmith’s Final Conflict, Young’s Hellraiser, too many Howard Shore to mention), there’s no doubt that Convertino’s approach is effective and suits this particular film. Sadly there was no accompanying CD release, but much of the score can be isolated via the DVD and it does sound tremendous on its own. The use of rhythm immediately identifies Convertino as composer, as well as several other flourishes.
Film score fans on the internet seem to spend half their time identifying where a composer repeats himself (or worse, someone else). And it’s true that Convertino does re-employ some old tools. The bells from Mother Night’s ‘Leichentrager Zur Wache’ re-appear for at least the second time (see also Straight Into Darkness) and for a scary moment it sounded like Convertino was going to repeat the track in its entirety (piano and strings also follow Leichentrager for a few notes before it goes off on its own). To be totally honest, I would have preferred not to hear these bells again. Personally, they take me right back to Nick Nolte’s 1960’s New York, although that’s obviously not going to be the majority experience
Wake Wood most definitely continues where he left off. A highly percussive horror score that sounds modern and melodic with no signs of rust. Depending on the source, he’s either around 58 or 51 years old, so no reason for him to be retiring any time soon. Time will tell.
Note: Credits at the end mention a Daniel Newman for 'additional music and music editing'. The score sounds very consistent so I'm unsure if this was something done separate from Convertino, or if Newman assisted him directly. It's also perhaps worth noting that this is another Newman collaborating with Convertino. Is he one of the Family Newmans that have worked with Convertino over the years? I don't know if Convertino is still friendly with any of the Newman clan. Although it will be the subject of the post of its own, Convertino co-wrote a rock album with Thomas 'The Shawshank Redemption' Newman and a few years later scored Tim Burton's Frankenweenie with his brother David. It could, of course, just be a co-incidence.
The following link gives many more details on the film including the note below on the score:
http://www.wakewoodmovie.com/WakeWood_ProductionNotes.pdf
Director David Keating: "The musical score plays a very important role in the film and we've had really positive feedback about it so far. The score was composed by Michael Convertino, an LA based composer who scored films such as Bull Durham, The Last of the High Kings and Things to do in Denver When You’re Dead. I'd worked with him before and we have a really good, collaborative working relationship. He was onboard well before we began shooting and we spoke a lot about the music and about aural reference points. Some of the reference points we used included ethnographic recordings from a Romanian mental institution and recordings of the theremin (an electronic instrument) being played. We listened to a lot of strange, old traditional music but in the end we went for a much more modern feel. I tend to record stuff myself and at one stage my son brought three of his girl friends home from school and we recorded them singing and screaming at the same time. Sounds strange, but it really was the most fascinating creative process."
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