While later portions of the score for
The Menu
offer more fluid lines of ambience, the most obvious sequences are
defined by the use polyrhythms, the simultaneous combination of
contrasting rhythms, to represent the busy kitchen environment. Stetson
supplies these ideas via conventional strings and woodwinds to emulate a
generally Baroque direction in the performance emphasis, a
faux-classical feel appropriate to the pomposity of the attitudes on
screen. Harshly plucked pizzicato strings dominate these cues, with a
piano in similar duties supplying more metallic anxiety once the mood
turns sour. Rather than utilizing synthetics exclusively for the horror
element after characters start dying, Stetson relied upon a number of
organic elements, some of them selected with the intent of providing
some sonic connection to a bustling kitchen environment. Pitched glasses
(a water glass array) and rapid metallic hits are accentuated by struck
pans and pots also used in atmospheric ways as to not be obvious. A wind
synth is employed, but traditional woodwinds and a nyckelharpa Nordic
stringed instrument offer the unusual tones, the latter providing
aggressively angry, low plucking or chopping. Joining this ensemble are
regulars in many Stetson scores, highlighted by the nearly mandatory
saxophone and Tibetan bowls. The choral influence becomes stronger as
the cult of deadly cuisine really starts to reveal itself, the discord
in the lines of singing sometimes emulating the polyphonic aspect of the
string rhythms earlier in the work. By the culminating revelation of
"The Purifying Flame," however, the harmonies become a bit more
accessible, the religious element demanding tonal magnificence or, at
the very least, deranged hints of majesty. Generally, however, the feel
of
The Menu is nervously off-kilter in its baroque applications,
the middle passages of pure suspense, as in "The Mess," providing less
interesting atmospheric horror punctuated by the piano and low string
strikes. Stetson can't resist some electronic manipulation, it seems, in
the application of the choral layers as the work progresses. It's clear
that he emphasized the demeanor over the thematic structure, whether
intentionally or otherwise. While Stetson does apply several themes to
the score, none of them is memorable or particularly effective as a
connective device, the performance inflection doing all the heavy
lifting.
There is a main theme that opens and closes the score
for
The Menu, its initial seven-note phrase quick to define the
class of the score. Heard immediately in "All Aboard" on high strings,
this idea weaves in and out under rhythmic and choral washes, returning
in full form at the end of the cue. The composer doesn't explicitly
remind us of this melody until 0:11 into "Take the Evening Air," where
it is overtaken by other random lines of action. It recurs more
forcefully at 0:06 into "Amuse Bouche (Reprise)" on solo viola, where
the theme is repeated in increasingly agitated renditions. This idea has
a good interlude sequence of static upwards movements that shine at 2:23
into "All Aboard" and inform the chords thereafter in the cue, but don't
expect this material to persist obviously in the rest of the score.
Several secondary motifs strive to take hold, but they rarely recur in
meaningful ways. An anticipation theme of sorts is developed at 0:40
into "The Boat" on viola, slowly building over the entirety of the cue.
A fragment of this idea returns at the climax in the middle of "Amuse
Bouche (Reprise)." A theme seeming to represent the Hawthorne restaurant
is vaguely explored in the middle of "Welcome to Hawthorne" but has no
impact later on. A defocused theme for delusion accompanies the choral
layering starting with religious meandering in "A Revolution in
Cuisine." A cathartic, five-note melody on high choir at 1:55 in "Fallen
Angel" is a consolidation of these wayward lines. After this material
becomes tonally sublime in "The First Cheeseburger You Ever Ate," the
formal five-note melody returns late in "The Purifying Flame." Don't
expect to exit your
The Menu listening experience with any of
these thematic elements in mind. Rather, the striking polyrhythms of the
pretentious portions and the disturbed religious vocals of the late
horror will define this score for you. None of this material is meant to
be overly pleasant, the rhythmic layers intentionally discordant and the
tonality of the choral portions really only redemptively soothing in
"The First Cheeseburger You Ever Ate." The score functions adequately
for the narrative because its awkward personality matches that of the
film, but from a structural standpoint, the thematic core could have
experienced a more obvious and satisfying arc within the parameters of
these techniques. The 42-minute album shifts without much transition
between its three disparate subsections, leaving you hungry for
something a little simpler than what's on the menu. Such was likely the
point.
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