We're currently on week 7 of 31 for "do the dead sing?" Seven tracks are available now, including last Friday's "Where is Adela?" inspired by @marianaenriquez1973 dark, gritty story “Adela’s House” from the short story collection “Things We Lost in the Fire” (titled after the @lowtheband 2001 album of the same name).
This week's release is “Five-Year Lease”, inspired by the 1951 short story “The Hungry House” by Robert Bloch (probably best known as the author of Hitchcock's "Psycho").
You can find “The Hungry House” in the fantastic collection, The Weird, edited by @annvander18 and @jeff_vandermeer123 #weirdfiction #hitchcock #weirdhorror #horror
Over the next 31 weeks, I’ll be releasing one single each Friday. This thematic series is inspired by the dark literature and strange stories I’ve cherished over the years, and my goal for each is to provide a quick write up about which story influenced it. Some of the stories are new favorites, while others left an indelible mark years ago. Together, they form a tapestry of the weird and quietly wrong.
Despite being published in 1907, William Hope Hodgson’s “The Voice in the Night” is a short story which I only encountered more recently.
Two sailors on a schooner in the Northern Pacific are approached by a man in a rowboat who asks that they put away their lanterns, thus obscuring him from view. He begs for rations for his fiancé, currently marooned on an island nearby, and departs upon the sailors obliging. Later that same night he returns and tells his tale; one of love, body horror and resignation. Departing a final time, the sailors can make out a head, “nodding into the mist” like some “great, grey…sponge.”
Like several of the pieces on “do the dead sing?”, “Nodding into the Mist” started as a jam session on the @cymaforma Alt. As it developed, I found that the @patchpoint Ciat-Lonbarde Cocoquantus added the perfect amount of evening grit.
“The Voice in the Night” is in the public domain and available to read here: /wiki/Avon_Fantasy_Reader/Issue_01/The_Voice_in_the_Night Huge thanks to @lucasallencook for his amazing cover artwork, and @alijaa.wav for additional production and mixing.
From a recording session in February which produced “Head on a Swivel”, the second single from “do the dead sing?” coming April 10. #lairdbarron #tiptoe #creepinghorror #weirdfiction #ciatlonbarde
On April 12, 2024, Missing Scenes performed at @megalithpdx in Portland. The set featured the complete performance of dream or memory?, a piece that would later be recorded and released on the album of the same name in early 2025.
This early version of the tracks that make up the dream or memory? album is notable for the absence of @stevelymanmusic drum work. At this stage, I had not yet realized that the piece required a drum kit. These three pieces, and dream or memory? in particular, were heavily influenced by the film Dreams by Akira Kurosawa.
In the weeks leading up to the show, I rehearsed the piece dozens of times. This recording is one of the stronger rehearsal captures from that period, presented here alongside the video backdrop created for the live performance. @kenneth.mellum provided cinematography for the first and second segments of the video. https://youtu.be/GHLPISPO5ts?si=O0HamYu7C7TZdkCy
On August 22, 2023, Missing Scenes performed at @nofunportland in Portland. The set featured the complete performance of who is this for?, a piece that would later be recorded and released on the album of the same name in early 2024.
In the weeks leading up to the show, I rehearsed the piece dozens of times. This recording is one of the stronger rehearsal captures from that period. It’s presented here alongside the video backdrop created for the live performance. https://youtu.be/B-EuII1bfTs?si=j4wyh_OVGGqUBS-R
A little more than a month from now, the first of 31 new missing scenes pieces will premiere on Bandcamp and wherever you stream your music. This is just a small snippet of the title track from this double album. Do the Dead Sing? is the original title of the beautiful @stephenking short story, The Reach.
you fear closing your eyes for darkness, but would you want a night so bright you cannot see the stars? from “dream or memory” live rehearsals in April 2024.
Looking to book some shows for 2026.
“do the dead sing?” cover art by Lucas Allen Cook (@darktripz )
The first of 31 singles drops April 3.
The phrase "do the dead sing" comes from the original title of The Reach by @stephenking and it felt like the perfect name for a collection of music inspired by dark and weird literature. I first read it in Skeleton Crew, but it wasn’t until revisiting it as an adult, in David G. Hartwell’s The Dark Descent that this song of the dead really sank its hooks into me.
Huge thanks to Lucas for this haunting, beautiful artwork.
“do the dead sing?”
From April 3 to October 31, missing scenes will release one song every week. This thematic series is inspired by the dark literature and strange stories I’ve cherished over the years, including works by authors like King, Oates, Crace, Wharton, Langan, Du Bois, Wehunt, Dick, Enriquez, Lovecraft, Ligotti, and many others who inhabit that unsettling space between beauty and dread. Each track stands alone, yet together they form a gradual descent into the weird, haunted, and the quietly wrong.
#darkambient #experimentalmusic #horrormusic #weirdfiction #cosmichorror #literaryhorror #ambientmusic #droneambient #sounddesign #cinematicmusic #atmosphericmusic #occultvibes
This is my very humble tribute to Michael Wehunt’s latest work, “The October Film Haunt”, which I’ve really enjoyed reading alongside my yearly re-read of Zelazny’s “A Night in the Lonesome October”. TOFH is everything I love about horror. Tools used in creating this video include Final Cut Pro, Logic, Moog Matriarch, and Alt by Cyma Forma. #funeralwatching #funeralplanning #doyoubelong #proofofdemons
