The music for
Nightmare Alley tests your
nerves with malicious intent, but not obviously. It rarely overwhelms
with noise or strikes an overtly obnoxious tone. Instead, it insipidly
grates at you with quiet, sparse tones of unpleasant personality for
lengthy periods of time. Tempos are extremely slow throughout, Johnson
in no hurry to develop the narrative of his music; rather, the score's
effective approach is to provide a diluted and disturbed sense of noir
through its small scope and intimate instrumental placements. The piano
is key here, bookending the journey of Stan's theme (and the score as a
whole) and often returning to a single, repeating note for the character
that doubles as a tool of anticipation. As Stan adopts his different
personas, Johnson responds by expanding upon the thematic material that
grows out of this piano, and he typically applies an oboe along the way
to represent the women in his life. His structural intent was to create
a theme for Stan and manipulate most of the other characters' themes as
variations on that same set of progressions. That notion is fine, though
the execution is so muted that it may not function well for most
listeners. The formal statements of Stan's theme may not be
distinguishable from the variants for some, and the meandering lack of
clarity, while being the point, dilutes the score's narrative. That main
theme could be defined as "dissonant elegance," guided by its main
four-note phrase and generally descending nature. It debuts on solo
piano at 0:38 into "Man or Beast" and receives sparse orchestration in
incongruent layers at 1:31. Its descending chords inform the first half
of "Storm's a Comin'" and erupt at 1:50 with a massive brass performance
offering a greater dose of tonality over percussive rhythms. Fragmented
on piano at outset of "Zeena's Spook Show," Stan's theme also opens
"Stan Takes the Hook," is subverted a bit by early in "Reading Mrs.
Kimball," stews in pieces in "The Take," and regroups in "Lie Detector"
against the Lilith theme, against which it will battle significantly in
later cues. The theme is tentative on oboe early in "The Poison Apple,"
consolidating at 1:37 on trumpet in that cue, and struggles early in
"Grindle's Ghost" before its opening two notes repeat in a climactic
crescendo in the middle of that cue. Regaining its form, Stan's theme
becomes massive at 4:19 into "Lilith's Revenge," continuing with anger
on brass throughout cue but eventually reduced to solo piano at end,
tinged with the Lilith theme in defeat. An interesting interlude for
this theme on oboe at 1:57 into "Man or Beast," somewhat like Molly's
theme, never has a later impact.
The variations on Stan's theme in
Nightmare
Alley all tend to bleed together, but they offer some interesting
moments in the score's earlier passages. Pieces of the idea, mainly its
descending phrasing, inform the second half of "Zeena's Spook Show" and
generate somber but almost hopeful variants in "The Face of God" and
"Open Graves." The composer presents militaristic alterations early in
"Shoeflies" and a more swaying, romantic, ascending formation in "Copa
Spook Show." In the end, though, Stan's theme has less appeal than those
for the leading ladies. Molly's theme is not a forceful presence in
Nightmare Alley, understandably, seemingly teased late in
"Shoeflies" but finally congealing in the middle of "Molly's Theme."
It's reprised briefly for oboe and flute in "Molly, Are You Alright?,"
attempts to survive in fragments in the first half of "Lie Detector,"
and exits at 1:02 into "The Poison Apple" with conclusive sadness. By
comparison, Lilith's theme comes to dominate the latter half of the
score. It's yet another variation on the descending Stan theme phrasing
but with more focus and allure, not to mention a harder finish. Its
prevalence begins to emerge in "Stan Takes the Hook," developing at 0:09
into "Lilith's Room" on oboe and deeper piano, and its descending
phrasing takes over from Stan's theme in "Reading Mrs. Kimball." It
ominously stalks late in "The Take," torments Stan's theme in the middle
of "Lie Detector," gaining strength late in the cue, and threatens early
in "Time You Delivered" on low strings. By "Grindle's Ghost," Lilith's
theme completely subverts Stan's, becoming forceful in the latter half
of the cue, with chopping strings and snare in lead. By 0:48 and 3:00
into "Lilith's Revenge," you hear full-ensemble usurping of Stan's theme
with no remorse. The interplay between the Stan and Lilith ideas
ultimately remains too elusive to really function well, however, leaving
the tone of Johnson's renderings to carry these portions. And they do,
to an extent. But not much of
Nightmare Alley will be of interest
to casual listeners, most cues really struggling to offer the structural
intelligence in any accessible or even often discernable fashion. The
score only engages in three cues, "Storm's a Comin'," "Grindle's Ghost,"
and "Lilith's Revenge," and it is no coincidence that these moments
present the themes with the boldest brass. The ambience of the score is
neither mysterious nor alluring, failing to establish any noir feeling
whatsoever. It is intellectually intriguing but surprisingly boring, a
massively missed opportunity for a fiendishly devious score to thrive
with the setting and these characters. The hour-long album is capped by
a solo piano version of Stan's theme, by which point you'll be long
tuned out.
** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
