Zanobard Reviews

Brian Bryson’s exquisitely dread-inducing score for fan film Alien: Lost Transmission manages to pretty effectively recapture that hair-raising dark ambience that made Jerry Goldsmith’s iconic score for the 1979 film work so well, making for a solidy entertaining half hour album overall.

Alien: Lost Transmission is a twenty eight minute fan film, and narratively takes place after the official movie Alien: Romulus. From the description for this unofficial new short; “aboard a secret Weyland-Yutani vessel, Colin and Naomi are trapped in a small maintenance room, hiding from a terrifying organism that has torn through the crew. Their only chance at survival is to escape confinement and reach the escape bay before it’s too late. But something is hunting them… and it’s not human.” The film overall focuses largely on the characterisation between Colin and Naomi, and its impeccably-designed backdrop of a Weyland-Yutani ship shows a lot of production love for the franchise, from the moody atmosphere of the grimy spacecraft to the dark shadows where the terrible titular creature lurks, and supporting all this is course – the music.

What drew me to this film was naturally the score, composed by Brian Bryson. I’ve always been a huge fan of Alien generally, and even just the first cue of Bryson’s work here drew me in with its pretty excellent re-capturing of Jerry Goldsmith’s iconically eerie musical ambience from the original 1979 film. To hear what I’m talking about have a listen from the links below, but starting with that opening track “Lost Transmission”; wary strings open the piece before fleeting woodwinds briefly appear, hinting heavily towards Goldsmith’s iconic repeating two-note motif from the 1979 movie. As the cue continues, darkly ominous atmosphere then seeps into centre stage with eerie synth and solemn piano notes starting to recur alongside the strings, deeply entrenching the music in this thick, creepy ambience before fading out at just before the four minute mark. All-in, atmosphere is the central aspect of Goldsmith’s amazing score for the original film, and I will say – Bryson has recaptured that feeling of pure dread pretty excellently here.

Intriguingly, the synth elements here are for the Alien itself. From the composer; “I wanted a distinct sound that hadn’t been heard before in the Alien universe. Something that grabbed the attention while feeling synthetic as I envisioned the Xenomorph crawling through the interior wires and cables of the ship.” In terms of sheer atmosphere this approach works very well I feel, certainly in terms of inducing that sense of paranoid dread that the Alien films utilise. “I Can See The Sunset” then focuses on quiet, gentle piano notes with a deep sense of solemnity yet also hope at the forefront, representing Naomi and Colin as they attempt to escape the ship in the film. This too is thematic, as Bryson wanted to capture the intimacy of these two trapped characters in sound.“I relied fairly heavily on simple, distant piano moments spaced throughout the film for some of the quieter, more emotional beats.” This wary piano optimism for the characters continues quietly into “Stuck Here” alongside several further woodwind hints toward Goldsmith, with “Salvage Ship” also hinting moodily toward the 1979 motif alongside eerie strings.

Short tracks “Black Rocks” and “Reprise” are deeply entrenched in that ominous atmosphere that makes music for the Alien franchise so effective, with the former cue starting to return to the imposing synth from the opening track (to represent the terrifying Alien) together with some particularly creepy vocals and eerie echoes towards Goldsmith, and the latter harking back toward those gently intimate piano notes for Colin and Naomi. Final track “Override” then offers a musical glimpse back toward hope with optimistic strings and piano in its first half, before disaster strikes towards the end as high-pitched, horror-like strings and the full force of the ominous synth returns, ending the track – and the score – on a particularly terrifying note.

Overall, Brian Bryson’s score for fan film Alien: Lost Transmission is pretty stellar. In my mind, the most important aspect of any music for the titular terrifying Xenomorph is the cold, moody ambience that made Jerry Goldsmith’s iconic work for the original 1979 film so effective, and Bryson has genuinely nailed that element with his score here. Opening track “Lost Transmission” as well as “Salvage Ship” (to name but two of the enjoyable tracks here) are excellent examples of this deep, dark atmosphere in action, and the use of tense synth for the Alien itself (“Override”) as well as gentle piano notes for the human characters (“I Can See The Sunset”) are pretty great as well. My only real issue with the score (and I only make it in jest!) is that it’s too short – I can’t help but wonder what Bryson could do with a full-length Alien movie. I’d certainly tune in if he did.

Score: 7.5/10

Standout Cues: Lost Transmission, Salvage Ship

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