Films such as “Akira” waste little time creating an immersive soundscape that keeps viewers in suspense as we’re hit by waves of warring genres and instruments. Composed by the experimental collective Geinoh Yamashirogumi, the score combines inspirations from Noh music (Japanese traditional theatre) as well as progressive rock, Indonesian folk music, etc., in such a way as to make the leitmotifs more and more destabilizing. The fusion of East Asian folk with symphonic choral works and club music highlights the film’s themes of requiem and oblivion.
“Uncut Gems” composer Daniel Lopatin (the mastermind of Oneohtrix Point Never) created a similar sensation. Its cosmic sonic expression marries the rhythm of the film’s narrative with a ricocheting pulse, covering the dull roar of constant dialogue and the angry New York soundscape. The inevitability of the film’s conclusion might be obvious, but the anxiety the score produces with its synth-driven design and noise rushes sets in early on when we don’t know better.
As for ‘Annihilation’, Barrow and Salisbury’s work is a masterful understanding of these compositional styles, for the greatest achievement in embodying anxiety through the score alone is achieved by contorting sharp dissonance of sound. “Annihilation,” to an even greater degree than the aforementioned works, is a perfect example of how to sequence a score to mimic a panic attack.
Anxiety and I share a story.
I used to wake up thinking the world was over. Silent and gray, the house of my childhood has become a tomb assembled by my silent and humiliating fears. I lay awake, momentarily paralyzed, before checking on my parents, sisters, and pets to make sure they were still alive.
My breath is so often stolen in these cases, every breath gained by barter. I was told young that the root of an anxiety attack was the feeling of impending doom, however inexplicable. What I learned was that I wasn’t terrified so much of the apocalypse but of the panic that comes with the cold sweat of believing that my world as I know it is ending. I will stand speechless and motionless day after day for months at a stretch, thinking that every time I survived was a stroke of luck: today the earth is on fire, the sky is really falling and the sun is going down. ‘darken. Anxiety, for me, is the fear that comes from knowing that my brain is an unreliable storyteller.