Umberto - Night Has A Thousand Screams (2012)

Of all the Goblin/Fabio Frizzi indebted synthesizer fetishists to emerge over the last few years, Umberto has proven himself to be the most crucial, and probably the most versatile. Injecting the sound with a mischief and avoiding any whiff of zaniness, his last bevvy of records showed a surprising breadth of character, and this latest for Mogwai's Rock Action record is possibly his most coherent to date. Funnily enough it was put together as a soundtrack for the Glasgow Music & Film Festival in February, and given an actual cinematic goal seems to have inspired the best out of our leather-gloved protagonist. 'Night Has A Thousand Screams' was pieced together with love and a deep appreciation for soundtracks passed, but in the same breath we're not subjected to a simple retreading of 'The Beyond' and 'Suspiria'. There's a knowledge of contemporary electronic music in there, occasionally surfacing in 'The Investigation' and 'Paralyzed' which gives the album a backbone of modernity. Sure the Italian film soundtracks of 1975-1983 are the starting point, but Umberto has made this sound his own, and 'Night Has A Thousand Screams' is all the better for it. Boomkat

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