A psychological ghost story, Samuel van Grinsven’s Went up the Hill sees a man returning to New Zealand to attend the funeral of his mother (from who he was separated at an early age). Her spirit inhabits both him and her widow and she speaks to each through the other (the two characters are called Jack and Jill, if you were wondering about the provenance of the film’s title).
Providing the mind-bending score is Hanan Townshend, best known for his numerous collaborations with the great Terrence Malick. It almost defies description (fortunately only “almost” else this would be a bit of a waste of time on my part) thanks to the way it twists and plays with expectations, refusing to fit into the conventions of any genre and where the whole is so much greater than the sum of the parts must sound when written about by a less-than-perspicacious internet blogger such as myself.
The album opens with “Scattering the Ashes”, a slightly creepy lullaby which immediately introduces one of the music’s key features – voices. On this occasion it is straight enough, a heavenly, wordless performance by Elise Serenelle – later, Townshend deploys all sorts of less conventional techniques, including (in his own words) “larynx tapping, pitch drifting, ASMR-like ticks and clicks, breath elements, and more” – these help to achieve a genuinely unsettling effect which runs throughout the score. (I love the kind of polyphonic vocal effect in “Scratch Marks”, which in film music terms reminds me very much of James Horner.)
At times when the vocals aren’t present the music takes on a bit of a dirge-like quality, such as in “The Wake”, which sounds simple but is constructed with such elegance it packs quite a punch.
“She Has More to Tell You” is a tremendous piece of film scoring, psychological terror front and centre – Townshend achieves this primarily through voices again – whispers and “noises” that are downright chilling precisely because he resists the temptation to go big and loud. Later, I also love “Helen’s at the Door”, where the vocals get laid on top of each other, along with instrumental effects which sound perhaps like wind blowing outside, to great effect.
While I’ve mentioned a few specific tracks, this is one of those scores that has to be experienced from start to finish to fully appreciate – it’s not the sort where you’ll be adding bits to playlists. And that’s because the composer has managed to create such a startlingly compelling narrative structure through the ever-interesting sounds he uses, and it’s one where you simply have to have the highs next to the lows to take the most from it.
There are a few moments when the music is overtly unpleasant by design, but only a few. At the other extreme, there are moments of great beauty, whether from a little piano theme that makes the occasional appearance, or some of the more conventional vocals. But for the most part the music is creeping between these feelings, with ambient textures and ideas which are so intelligently designed and constructed, this is the finest psychological horror score I’ve heard in a very long time.
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