You’re going to immensely enjoy this premiere today. John Bergin’s “The Last Sunset,” from the original novella score Crash & Burn, Vol. 2, is one of the many dark and engaging numbers to come from a visual and musical artist whose work has been at the center of so many things Vehlinggo readers hold dear.
John Bergin has been involved in many of your favorite things — whether it is a film soundtrack, graphic novel, or a band you like. As art director and sometimes A&R for Lakeshore Records, he’s had his hand in the soundtracks to Drive, Mr. Robot, and Stranger Things, along with the companion album to The Rise of the Synths and the Fangoria compilation (and so many more releases). He’s also worked with the legendary Gary Numan and Jarboe from Swans. He was in the band Trust Obey. He influenced the creation of The Crow graphic novel. He’s done it all, it seems and your head would spin if I tried to list anything more.
As established, he makes his own music, too, and it’s so good. “The Last Sunset” is a hypnotically transformative mid-tempo cut from Volume 2 of his original score to Sophia Died’s upcoming graphic novella Crash & Burn. For those looking for some signifiers: The track feels like Mezzanine-era Massive Attack crossed with Makeup and Vanity Set, Clint Mansell, and Helena Hauff.
It’s second in a series of EPs that continues Bergin’s synth-centered electronic and industrial gems. You can buy Volume 2 on Friday, March 29 via Bergin’s Bandcamp page.
“My favorite aspect of creating scores for books is distilling a story into a handful of pivotal moments and finding ways to conjure those moments in a listener’s mind with music,” Bergin says. “Unlike a film score, where music typically serves to accent emotion and action that is literally right before the viewer’s eyes, book scores use music and sound to project a mind-movie into the listener’s imagination. The visuals do not exist outside of a reader’s or listener’s imagination, so it’s a lot of fun to try to draw them with sound. I guess this is a lot like making a concept album. I’ve always been a fan of those.”
About Crash & Burn
Here’s the story of Crash & Burn, as recounted in the official press release:
CRASH & BURN is a site where dangerous stunt driving challenges are issued to players. The stunts are not completed in real life. They are run inside the open world of the Crash & Burn video game. Players complete challenges and post videos of their runs and the video with the most Likes wins the challenge.
All hell breaks loose when someone posts a video of a challenge being completed in real life.
CRASH & BURN issues more real-life stunt challenges, each one deadlier than the last.
Players from around the world compete against each other for Likes. They call themselves BURNERS and post video and live streams to the CRASH & BURN site. At the end of 90 days, the top Burner will receive a huge cash prize.
How to get Likes: DESTRUCTION. FAILURE. MAYHEM. NUDITY.
Sixteen-year-old TODD RUCK lives in Nowhere, Nevada.
Todd’s younger brother Wes is the player who uploaded the original real-life stunt; a car accident he caught on video that coincidentally matched a CRASH & BURN challenge.
Todd and Wes rebuild an ’81 Ford Escort junker and enter the game.
A hilariously failed stunt launches them into the upper rankings, but after a close call with death they decide to quit…. and that’s when the mysterious Sadie joins their team. Sadie is a brilliant driver and a gifted media artist. Todd, Sadie, and Wes quickly rise to first place.
A dark rider emerges; a demon driver from hell who calls himself FLESHMAN.
Fleshman cuts through the Crash & Burn players with his murdered ’69 Camaro, killing off the teams one-by-one. Not video game death. Real death.
An EPIC SHOWDOWN looms on the horizon. TODD vs FLESHMAN.
Who will live to drive another day… and who will crash and burn?
As mentioned above, Crash & Burn, Vol. 2, releases on Friday. Get it and Bergin’s other gems via his Bandcamp page.
