Chris Wirsig
20 Matches (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
(Electric Heresy)

LA electronic/ambient artist Chris Wirsig has released his new three-song album, 20 Matches (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack). A composer of video game music and SFX, as well as movie soundtracks like this, Chris mines that Tangerine Dream/Trent Reznor/Vangelis spooky keyboardist/composer thang for this movie’s music. “20 Matches” opens, built around a breathing synth sound, with single-string notes push in, mixed with tinkling piano. There is a low bass synth and metallic, roiling, repetitive synth here as well, as some sort of piano melody tries to make its presence known with pretty chord-ing near the tune’s end. Track two, “20 Matches (Credits),” has a plinky, consistent piano melody with a train-like, shunking beat behind bleeding synth strings and knocks of impending low percussion in the way back mix as things get more desperate-sounding and sad. But this is merely a brief interlude as we are into the third track, “20 Matches (Diversion),” again with that train shunk, but lots of metallic, low, hollow pipe sounds and arpeggiated keyboard menace. Wirsig is layering lots on here; not even a third of the way through, other synths come in with descending Wagnerian-like lines where sounds swish in and out, creating quite the scary whole. Even with the high drama strings and the increasing, swirling, metallic rush of sounds, a single-note piano melody surfaces near the end (again) of this one track, when everything grows to a crescendo high, then leaves us with that tickling, lone piano.