Of course, being adventuresome and generally knowing that when I plunk down some cash on a purchase I'm only seeing described in vague terms designed to strictly whet my appetite, I'd better have some confidence in what I'm getting myself into, but we are talking about the Residents here-I ordered immediately. Not that I expected anything less than spectacular. As you tour through the Freak Show you get to experience all the songs on the album, some of the graphic novel, and gain additional insight into the lives and personalities of the characters who inhabit the oddball carnival of semi-lost souls. Plus, other little tidbits make exploring the CD-ROM fun every time. Spurred by these two completely unheralded masterworks, I figured it was time to place a call to the Cryptic Corporation, the organization that handles all the Residents' affairs regarding dealings with the general outside world.
Hunters is a beautiful, careful album.
The recording was done in standard soundtrack style, the band viewing the finished footage and composing music to accompany it-the Residents were contacted by the producer of the series. The result is a dense work that nods toward orchestral moods more often than not. Originally they were very afraid. Even though the idea was they wanted to do this show on predators, and they wanted it to be somewhat vicious. The Residents achieve on Hunters is a closer cousin to sweeping movie scores from the '30s and '40s rather than classical music, but insidious rumblings lurk within all the pieces.