Snow Files of the Week

[SadEyes]

Snow Files of the Week: "Victoria's Confession" from the tv thriller "Caroline at Midnight" (1994).

Mark shows his film noir style in this score. The main theme was also used by Mark in the X-Files episode "3" from season two. Overall, Mark's score has some Jazz elements, as well as his trademark dark and brooding soundscapes. In this track, Mark's mysterious piano accompanies Victoria's confession, before the well-known main theme kicks in again.

The score was released by Dragon's Domain Records on "The Mark Snow Collection Volume Two", paired with his score for "Seduced and Betrayed". The CD is limited to 2.000 copies.

Enjoy!

 

[SadEyes]

Snow Files of the Week: "Alarm/X-Fyles" from "MillenniuM", episode "Somehow, Satan got behind me" (1998).

Darin Morgan wrote some of the most sarcastic and funny episodes of "The X-Files" (Humbug, War of the Coprophages, Jose Chung's From Outer Space). For the second season of "MillenniuM", Darin returned to write two episodes for Chris Carter's second show. "Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense" was the first crossover between "The X-Files" and "MillenniuM", which Darin also directed. He returned as writer and director for "Somehow, Satan got behind me", near the end of season two. In this episode four demons, disguised as old men, meet at a coffee shop at night to talk about the poor souls they dragged to hell over the last week.

"Alarm" is a quirky piece of music, playing as the demons meet at the coffee shop. One of the poor souls is a television censor who runs amok at a tv studio facility. In one of the studios we see a woman with red hair and a man with dark-brown hair, conducting an autopsy, that is being filmed. Mark underscores this scene with a strange rendition of his X-Files theme.

The tracks are featured on the fist volume of music from "MillenniuM", released by La-La Land Records. The set is limited to 1000 copies.

Enjoy!

 

[SadEyes]

Snow Files of the Week: "Shrapnel/Drilling" from "MillenniuM", episode "Goodbye to all that" (1999).

After three seasons "MillenniuM" ended with a cliffhanger. Frank Black has to escape with his daughter Jordan into an uncertain future, after he finds out, that the Millennium group is after Jordan. But first, Frank has to deal with a killer, who breaks into family homes at night, killing both wife and husband.

The track "Shrapnel" plays at the beginning of the episode. After an explosion, that was a trap, Special Agent Baldwin is being transported by an ambulance. Although being badly injured he is still alive, having a shrapnel stuck in his body. It turns out, that the paramedics were sent by the group, when one of them pushes the shrapnel deeper into Baldwin's body, making him bleed to death.

"Drilling" underscores the final fight between Frank and the killer. The track ends with a beautiful piano piece, when Frank gets his daughter, driving away with her into the sunset.

These two tracks are featured on the first volume of "MillenniuM" music by La-La-Land Records. The set was at first released in 2008, limited to 2.000 copies. It sold out two years later. In 2015, La-La Land Records re-released the set, now limited to 1.000 copies.

Enjoy!

 

[SadEyes]

Snow Files of the Week: "A Message of Faith" from "Night Sins" (1997).

Of course, the score has the familiar sounds, that we already know from Mark's work on "The X-Files" and "MillenniuM". "Night Sins" has a beautiful main theme, which gets its finest presentation in this track. Mark also added etheral choir work to it and showed again, that he indeed can write beautiful piano themes.

The album was released by BSX Records and is limited to 1000 copies.

Enjoy!

 

[SadEyes]

Snow File of the Week: "Love Theme (aka "Rose's Theme")/Memories" from "Conundrum" (1995).

While still working on the second season of the X-Files, Mark Snow composed the score for this 1995 tv thriller. It's got some of Mark's familiar X-Sounds, combined with haunting female vocals.

The album was released by Buysoundtrax Records, limited to 1000 copies.

Enjoy!

 

[SadEyes]

Snow Files of the Week: "Choices/Finis" from "Private Fears in Public Places (aka Coeurs)" (2006).

This movie marked the first collaboration between Mark and french director Alain Resnais. Resnais had the rough cut of the movie temp tracked with Mark's music from "The X-Files" and "MillenniuM". It's therefore no surprise, that the final score sometimes reminds the listener of these shows.
Mark's score is very melancholic and soft overall, matching the movie's tone, where it's constantly snowing. The movie follows a group of people, that are essentially looking for love, in one way or another, but after all, it's really a movie about loneliness.

Mark's score was pretty much butchered in the final movie. Resnais only used 10 to 20 second bits of the music between certain scenes, leaving the main part of the score out of the movie.

The score can therefore only be heard entirely on the album, which was released by Buysoundtrax Records, limited to 1000 copies.

Enjoy!

 

[SadEyes]

Snow Files of the Week: "Threnody in X/Quitting/Plague (Alternate Segment)" from the movie "The X-Files - Fight the Future" (1998).

For the first X-Files motion picture, Mark took his electronic soundscapes and put them into orchestral music. He even surprised the producers, when he conducted his music, because for them he was just the "synthesizer guy". Some bits of the films score also appear in the tv show, like in the final episode of season five, "The End".

A score album was released with the movie. Sadly it has some sound issues. The stereo channels are reversed, which leads to an overall muffled and flat sound. La-La Land Records released an expanded album of the score, which not only solved the sound problems of the original release, but there is also more music on it and a very informative booklet with not one, not two, but three interviews with Mark. This release is limited to 3.000 copies.

Enjoy!

 

[SadEyes]

Snow Files of the Week: "Carl Gerhard Busch/Heavy Wheeling" from The X-Files, episode "My Struggle III" (2018), composed by Mark Snow.

The X-Files returned and so did Mark. After the short Event Series, now called season 10, the show gained new popularity among viewers and so a season 11 went into production.

"My Struggle III" follows the cliffhanger from season 10, revealing that the pandemic and the alien invasion were just a vision Scully had. But the danger is there nevertheless.

For this season Mark abandoned his more melodic style that he brought into the later seasons of The X-Files and returned to the more moody and ambient soundscapes of the first seasons. But with a modern touch.

The score album was released by La-La Land Records, limited to 3.000 copies.

Enjoy!

 

[SadEyes]

Snow Files of the Week: "Capsules/A Mother Never Forgets/Mulder’s Memories" from "The X-Files: The Event Series", episode "Founder's Mutation" (2016).

As the X-Files returned in 2016 so did Mark Snow. His music for the new episodes is familiar, but with enough new elements to keep it interesting. The score is more minimalistic overall, but nevertheless Mark wrote some wonderful themes.

"Founder's Mutation" is the second episode of the event series. It evolves around a scientist who is experimenting on children with genetic anomalities to cure them. Scully and Mulder have visions of their son William, who is genetically different too. At the end of the episode Mulder fantasizes about his son William being grown up to schoolboy-age. He plays with him, builds a rocket and launches it and witnesses his abduction, just like he did with his sister. Back in reality Mulder looks at a photo of William. The music by Mark for this scene, "Mulder's Memories", is surely one of the most beautiful tracks of the event series.

The tracks were taken from the 2CD set, released by La-La Land Records. The set is limited to 3.000 copies.

Enjoy!

 

[SadEyes]

Snow Files of the Week: "Mr. Chuckleteeth #1/The Ritual Burn/Mr. Chuckleteeth" from The X-Files, episode "Familiar" (2018).

 

Mr. Chuckleteeth might be the most remembered character from the eleventh season of The X-Files. Maybe The X-Files deserved their own Chucky-like doll. But as always with The X-Files, things are not quite what they seem.

Prominently featured in this episode is the Mr. Chuckleteeth theme song, which sticks out of Mark's dark and brooding score accompanying the search for missing children.

 

The music was released on the 2CD set from La-La Land Records, featuring more music from season 11. The set is limited to 3.000 copies.

 

Enjoy!