What is it?

South Mountain Magic is a motion picture by Dave Dull for Maryland's Antietam Cable based upon the book of the same name by Madeleine Vinton Dahlgren, originally published in 1882.

SMM is a collection of ghost stories, legends, strange events and other folklore from the South Mountain region of Maryland lovingly brought to life by an all-volunteer cast of talented actors and crew from the region. Dave Dull guided this disparate group of thespians, artists, technicians and movie buffs through the creation of a period piece that belies its tiny budget.

Dave spent two years bringing this flick to life and I spent well over a year creating this recording. The movie is available on DVD (featuring a 5.1 surround sound mix!) from Antietam Cable and now the soundtrack is available on audio CD. A combo package is also available in the SanityCheck.net online store.

South Mountain Magic aired regularly from 3 September 2005 through Halloween of the same year.

Sounds like?

South Mountain Magic is a dark quasi-orchestral film score combined with Appalachian and Native American instrumentation. It contains a bit of original sound design work based upon a core of acoustic instruments, but for the most part it is orchestral while boasting an unconventional collection of instruments.

This soundtrack has been compared to John Williams' score for the film Jurassic Park, Jerry Goldsmith's score for the original Planet of the Apes and even Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother. It has also solicited references to Phillip Glass, Howard Shore, and Ry Cooder. It should be noted that all of these references left me humbled and flattered.

It is difficult to describe music with text and frankly I've never been good at it. I'm not very good at writing about myself and my work in third-person either. However, as an indie, it's part of the gig. I've collected comments from a bunch of my friends who were kind enough to provide them, and these words are the result. If they've sparked any interest, then please scroll down the page where you will find freely downloadable mp3 versions of more than half of this record! Listen and decide for yourself.

Free Downloads!

I am very proud of this record. It took a very long time, but I achieved everything I wanted to achieve with it; it sounds precisely as I imagined it. Working with Dave Dull is always a treat. He and I have a great deal of common ground as movie buffs and he gives me plenty of freedom with the music. As a result, this record contains all of the music I wrote for this final project and nothing that I, myself, do not like.

With these thoughts in mind it should be noted that this isn't the type of music that everyone enjoys listening to. I was surprised and overjoyed to find that far more people than I would have imagined enjoy this record. That is a bonus! However I do not want people to buy this CD and find that they don't like it. Considering the diversity of music I've created throughout the years - I don't want anyone confused about what they are going to get when they purchase it. Consequently I'm making the majority of this record available for free download!

I'm making four of this CD's seven tracks available in the mp3 format at high resolution. These are arguably the "best" (likely to appeal to the largest number of listeners) and most engaging tracks from the disc - Prologue, Sadie and Daniel, The Phantom Battle, and Shadow of South Mountain. The three remaining tracks are more subdued and direct the narrative: they are the more somber and ambient portions of the work.

Track seven, Shadow of South Mountain is over twenty-four minutes long! Thus it is a larger file. If you would like a good idea of what this record sounds like, but don't feel like downloading all four tracks, this movement will give you the best taste of what you'll find.

If you enjoy this record, please consider purchasing a copy of it on CD from either the SanityCheck.net online store, or CDBaby.com.

~~ BLUE

South Mountain Magic - Track Listing

1: Prologue

2: Sadie and Daniel

3: Phantom Battle

4: Kidnapped

5: National Road Apparition

6: Door Ghost

7: Shadow of South Mountain

The four tracks listed below are freely downloadable LAME encoded mp3 audio files with a high quality bitrate. They are not configured for streaming, please download (Right-click-save-target/command-click-save-link) the files to your computer.

Prologue

This is the brief piece that opens the record. It is 1:27 in length with a 3.4 MB filesize.

Sadie and Daniel

This is the closest thing this record has to a "love theme", though with a bit of a twist. It is 10:19 in length with a 23.6 MB filesize.

Phantom Battle

This piece scores the (you guessed it) Phantom Battle segment in the movie. It also has some of the most straight-ahead acoustic guitar work from the record. It is 8:53 in length with a 20.3 MB filesize.

Shadow of South Mountain

This track constitutes the entire final movement of the composition. It is lengthy and contains quite a few changes and as a result it is a big file. If you are only inclined to download one track, and you have a quick Internet(s) connection, this is the track I recommend. It is 23:33 in length with a 53.9 MB filesize

Please feel free to share these four songs with anyone you believe might enjoy them. If they do, please send them here and encourage them to purchase a CD copy for themselves. Thank you!