Kælan Mikla & Bardi Johannsson - The Phantom Carriage (Original Score)

Victor Sjöström's The Phantom Carriage (Körkarlen), the 1921 Swedish silent film about a ghostly coachman who collects the souls of the dead, has haunted filmmakers for more than a century. Icelandic trio Kælan Mikla and composer Bardi Johannsson wrote a new score for it, first performed live to a sold-out church at the Transylvania International Film Festival in 2023.

The pairing makes sense on paper and better on record. Kælan Mikla bring the cold synths, programmed drums and ethereal vocals of their darkwave albums, while Johannsson, known for Bang Gang, Starwalker and Lady & Bird as well as his film work, adds a composer's sense of pacing. Across sixteen cues, from "Legend of the Graveyard" to the closing title piece, the music moves between classic thriller scoring and gloomy, slow-burning electronics, and it holds up as an album with or without the film.

Released on vinyl by Artoffact Records in 2024.