Neither Mat McNerney nor Kimmo Helén has anything to prove in terms of atmosphere building. The two are bandmates in Hexvessel and have a number of other projects going at any given moment, so a film soundtrack feels like an organic-enough extension of what they’ve done in the past to make sense. You’ll note the director here is Justin Oakey as well, with whom the pair has worked before in and out of the context of Hexvessel and who has helmed videos in the past as well for Ulver, Godstopper and others. A Fire in the Cold Season is Oakey‘s second feature film behind 2016’s Riverhead, and it was nominated in 2019 for a Canadian Screen Award in best cinematography, which, you know, feather in the cap and all that.

Svart Records will release the soundtrack to the film in October, and there’s a snippet up now. I don’t know if the movie is on — INSERT SERVICE HERE — at the moment or not, but if you made it this far into the bowels of the internet you’re obviously a resourceful sort and I’m sure you can figure out a way to see the thing. I think I might try to chase it down as well. Maybe my Netflix is up to date? I don’t know.

In any case, prepare thyself for minimalism on signed vinyl!

From the PR wire:

A Fire In The Cold Season Original Soundtrack – Mat McNerney & Kimmo Helén

A Fire In The Cold Season, soundtrack to rural noir thriller from Newfoundland, Canada, scored by Mat McNerney and Kimmo Helén of the Finnish folk band Hexvessel.

McNerney (Hexvessel, Beastmilk, Grave Pleasures, Carpenter Brut, Me & That Man, ex-Code, ex-DHG) and multi-instrumentalist Helén have collaborated with director Justin Oakey before on a short film, but A Fire In The Cold Season marks their first full feature length soundtrack composition; a wild and evocative cross-pollination of Finnish and Newfoundland spirit. A Fire In The Cold Season is reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy’s western narratives (No Country for Old Men, The Road, Blood Meridian, The Counselor), with a realistic, heavy paced mood where nothing is certain but the promise of despair in a violent world. McNerney and Helén’s soundtrack is signature ritualistic Hexvessel, straining violins and rustic guitars, but also a new and mature flourish of restraint and minimalist beauty where disparate piano and solemn voices echo through the wilderness.

Inspired by Newfoundland folk music, Philipp Glass, Shigeru Umebayashi and Ryuichi Sakamoto, A Fire In The Cold Season is an elegant, romantic and suspenseful score which is as much a homage to the harsh and stunning nature witnessed in Oakey’s visual landscape as Hexvessel’s inherent nature mystic themes. Fans of Hexvessel’s work will find much to delight in A Fire In The Cold Season’s occult and noirish atmospheres, and new-comers to McNerney and Helén’s work will enjoy being transported from shamanic transcendence to heart-aching romantic mountain melancholy. With an international premiere of A Fire in a Cold Season in Iceland, nominated for a Canadian Screen Award and featured on Netflix internationally, McNerney and Helén creep out from outsider fringes of their humble underground origins to show their looming talents for commanding a vastly evocative and haunting cinematic story.

Released on vinyl in an exclusive run of 250 limited edition signed black LPs and digitally everywhere from 22nd of October 2021.

https://www.facebook.com/hexvessel
http://instagram.com/hexvesselband
https://hexvessel.bandcamp.com/
https://www.hexvessel.com/
www.svartrecords.com
www.facebook.com/svartrecords

Mat McNerney & Kimmo Helén, “Romance of Mystery” official video