Dreamlord and Komische are up to their old tricks again as The Hologram People return with their new album Isola Dei Morti Viventi. Last time we caught up with our dynamic duo it was on 2022’s Village of the Snake God, an album which garnered them well earned high praise. This time Jonathan Parkes (AKA Dreamlord and Dom Keen (AKA Kosmische) are tackling another imagined soundtrack, this time for a “lost” Italio horror movie called Isola Dei Morti Viventi. The film, directed by Guiseppi Giovanni, was originally supposed to come out in 1977 but was shelved only to be rediscovered in 2020. It’s in this sphere that Keen and Parkes really shine. Their past Hologram People and releases as Studio Kosmische testify to that.
I was keen to find out more about how the guys work together to create these amazing soundtracks, here’s what they had to say.
“With both ‘Village of the Snake God’ and ‘Isola Dei Morti Viventi’ the concepts were all worked out first. We drafted a basic storyline and even had most of the song titles decided on before writing any music.”
“At the time of recording, we were living in different cities so everything was written at our respective home studios. Since last year we live down the road from each other so can get together any time we need to. The first session we recorded in the same room (after many years) turned into the recently released Studio Kosmische LP ‘Beyond the Circle of the Fixed Stars.’”
The album opens on the ominous tones of ‘The Green Inferno’, the opening notes almost like a ship’s horn in the fog. The swirling synths and electronic percussion creating a real sense of disorientation. As a listener this is really freeing as it allows you to surrender yourself to the journey ahead and go wherever the music takes you.
That place is the eerie island in question. ‘Night Sweats Parts 1 & 2’ next slips into a darkly funky groove early on, the bass and drums metering out the vibes whilst the synths add their touches of horror soundtrack motifs. It’s not long before guitar and keyboards lead us on a merry dance with a wailing saxophone adding its alluring affectations.
It’s not long before we’re on a ‘Slow Cruise to Port Danger’. This number eschewing the horror genre for film noir. This could easily be the theme for a seventies gumshoe detective flick. That mournful trumpet and tasteful use of the Fender Rhodes creating a wonderfully tense ambience.
But, it’s over all too soon and it’s time to face the ‘Worst Case Scenario’. That phat bass and drum partnership brings the funk in buckets. The rest of the track is atmospheric, Kosmische sounds through which you can hear the wails and moans of the advancing zombie horde.
‘Love in the Jungle’ develops those Kosmische sounds into sharp focus all the while building the tension and sense of nervousness.
This leads very neatly into the menacing ‘Float the Conga’. The central bass motif here remains the constant as tribal drums, piano and mournful, wailing vocals slowly join in the dance. There’s something quite Gallic about this track. It harks to that same ambience Air created at times, particularly on their Virgin Suicides soundtrack. That said it is unmistakably a Hologram People number through and through.
That leads us to this albums centre piece and my stand out track. ‘Isola Dei Morti Viventi (Main Theme)’ has that European cinema vibe in spades. The rolling acoustic guitar line beckons us in and we are swept up in soaring choral vocals and dagger like guitar solos. This is the perfect microcosm of this collection of songs. Like some sort of musical summary. Uplifting yet full of menace and foreboding.
As if in complete contrast ‘Jungle Patrol’ is a short tone poem based around a swiftly moving keyboard arpeggio. It’s simultaneously bamboozling and beguiling.
The gnashing of teeth and groans of the undead lead us into ‘March of the Living Dead’. It’s sombre and oppressive vibe feels like leads right out of the themes established in ‘Float the Conga’. Although the energy is quite different. The inevitability of our protagonist’s demise at the hands of the horde weighs heavy on our musical narrators.
We pause for another short tone poem in the shape of ‘Killer Chrysanthemum’. The arpeggios this time not as urgent but unhurried and measured.
A lone conga beats out the intro to ‘No Escape’ as we approach our end, literal and metaphorical. As the drum calls out the sound of the undead slowly fades to reveal a portentous, gloomy synth. It’s clear, in the low foreboding coda, that not everyone has made it out alive.
‘Cocktail di Zombie’ takes us back into that noir world with its silky-smooth arrangement. You could imagine the band in the bar zombified and still laying down these jazzy grooves like the hip cats they once were.
The experience comes to a close with ‘The Survivors Return’. Optimism creeping in to its incredibly short run time with the lilting acoustic guitar and what sounds like an autoharp lightening the tone.
Once again, The Hologram People have created a whole world in the grooves of a record. A world where you can completely immerse yourself and get lost for its run time. They have a strange knack of creating music which inspires the imagination. Combined with the beautiful cover art and interesting song titles it all comes together to create a listening experience like no other.
Isola Dei Morti Viventi is out now via Dreamlord Recordings. You can grab a vinyl copy now over on Bandcamp.
You can follow The Hologram People on social media here…
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