Graham Reynolds - 'The Lodger'

Our fascination for a whodunnit knows no bounds. Crime series, murder especially, are a staple of modern televission, their translation into our sub-conscious work when there’s no plot spoiler, the tease is everything. The master of the art was Alfred Hitchcock whose 1927 silent film ‘The Lodger’ had to allude, but never reveal, as his leading actor was the much-loved and never-to-be-guilty Ivor Novello – a technique he was to revisit from Birds to Psycho.

‘The Lodger’ – based on Marie Belloc Lowndes’ 1913 novel with a nod to the infamous Jack The Ripper case – set many hearts racing when visiting the East End of London and an unexpected fog descended. The drama was afoot, and the tension has been further escalated with a re-imagined score by multi award-winning composer, bandleader, and innovative improvisor, Graham Reynolds.

This tale of murder and suspense set on the streets terrorised London is eerily completed as Reynolds’ sweeps from light to dark; it’s playful in places, haunting, a tease – like Hitchcock at his best. Nowhere is safe, even the seemingly innocuous ‘Police Station’ which is accompanied by a brooding piece of maniacal piano that underpins a gloriously evocative theme; a haunting and suggestive muse that stutters with tension.

It’s another Reynolds’ master stroke on the heels of his score for Richard Linklater’s ‘Where Do You Go, Bernadette’, his work on Ballet Austin’s ‘Grimm Tales’ and his contribution to ‘The Sound Of Science’, a multimedia collaboration with Kronos Quartet’s former cellist Jeffery Zeigler.