(l-r) Cody Carpenter, John Carpenter, Daniel Davies: photo credit Sophie Gransard

9 April 2024 – John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter, and Daniel Davies have just shared the second single from their forthcoming album Lost Themes IV: Noir (set for release on May 3rd via Sacred Bones Records). In addition to streaming release on all DSPs, the trio have unveiled a visualizer by acclaimed animator and longtime collaborator Boneface. The freakish and high contrast visuals underscore the noirish atmosphere of the instrumental, that instills a sense of impending danger via a menacing guitar riff that slices through the core of the song’s spectral electronic pulse.

It’s been a decade since John Carpenter recorded the material that became the initial Lost Themes, his debut album of non-film music and the opening salvo in one of Hollywood’s great second acts. Those vibrant, synth-driven songs, made in collaboration with his son Cody Carpenter and godson Daniel Davies, kickstarted a musical renaissance for the pioneering composer and director. In the years since, Carpenter, Carpenter, and Davies have released close to a dozen musical projects, including a growing library of studio albums and the scores for David Gordon Green’s trilogy of Halloween reboots. It helped that they grew up in a musical environment. Daniel’s dad is The Kinks’ Dave Davies, and he would pop by the L.A. studio – the same one the Lost Themes records are made in today – to jam, or to perform at wrap parties for John’s films. That innate free-flowing chemistry helps Lost Themes IV: Noir run like a well-oiled machine—the 1951 Jaguar XK120 Roadster from Kiss Me Deadly, perhaps, or the 1958 Plymouth Fury from John’s own Christine. It’s a chemistry that’s helped power one of the most productive stretches of John’s creative life, and Noir proves that it’s nowhere near done yielding brilliant results.

Lost Themes IV: Noir track list

1. My Name is Death
2. Machine Fear
3. Last Rites
4. The Burning Door
5. He Walks By Night
6. Beyond The Gallows
7. Kiss The Blood Off My Fingers
8. Guillotine
9. The Demon’s Shadow
10. Shadows Have A Thousand Eyes