Piero Umiliani - Effets Spéciaux (St Germain Des Prés - St GDP 114) (1972)

Continuing with my ongoing theme of dark and twisted library music, I present another selection from the prolific and legendary Italian composer, Piero Umiliani. This may not be Umiliani's darkest album, but it ranks high among those that I've had the pleasure of listening to. Umiliani was a prolific composer who is best known for the soundtracks he composed for numerous Italian films, but my favorite Umiliani albums are the more experimental efforts he recorded for his own library music label, Omicron. I have no doubt that I will never be able to listen to his vast discography in its entirety, so if any of you would like to help me out by recommending other Umiliani albums that are somewhat twisted or darker in nature, please leave a message in the comments.

"Effets Speciaux" was released on the St Germain Des Prés label in 1972. Don't let the bright magenta colored cover of this album deceive you. Many of the tracks on this release consist of haunting ambient music, punctuated by a variety of percussion instruments, deep bass, electronic synths and strange sound effects. On the whole, Umiliani creates an atmosphere that is bleak, desolate, and mysterious. It is difficult to find a library album that manages to be completely dark in tone, and this album is no exception. "Etat Hypnotique" lives up to its name and has a very mysterious dreamlike quality to it. Dynamique en Tension N°1 and N°1 are somewhat poppy in nature with an underlying jazz rhythm. "Detective" is perhaps the track that sharply contrasts the most, and is my favorite track on the album. It is obviously rooted in blues, but it also has a noticeable industrial feel to it as well. "Echoes de Sous-Sols" and "Signaux Morse N°1" consist entirely of electronic bleeps and blips, which I assume are intended to be morse code. It would be interesting to find out what they actually mean, if anything at all.

There is a distinct melody that can be heard throughout several tracks that seems so very familiar to me, but naggingly enough, I can't quite place it. You can hear it at the onset of "Batiments N°1 and N°1 and several other places. I'm positive that it was used in a televison show or film. "Lost" perhaps?