Berberian Sound StudioWarp ****

This work that accompanies Peter Strickland’s acclaimed film about a sound recordist’s descent into mental anguish while working in an Italian horror film studio is as hauntingly atmospheric as any previous Broadcast album, sharing a similar kind of space with Witch Cults of the Radio Age (2009).

Berberian Sound Studio has a raw beauty and is layered, yet minimal. At first it is seemingly fragmented, with wild synths and audio excerpts from the film, but it is actually anchored by a bleak romanticism reminiscent of Ennio Morricone (who James Cargill and Trish Keenan seem to be channelling at different points), as well as the 1970s haze that provides a sense of claustrophobia.

The most striking thing, however, is how unique and moving Keenan’s vocal is and, following her death in January 2011, how much she is missed.

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