Michael Hedstrom - Midnight Circus

On the outskirts of town where the grass never grows an eerie white glow appears one night. The wind calls you closer. It's just a small tent, some weary traveller perhaps. The wind whispers again. 'Come inside, come inside.' Background music for haunted houses with a dark circus theme. Influence: Danny Elfman,... Featured in Knotts Scary Farm's Carnivorous Clowns Maze. Review: HAUNTED ATTRACTION MAGAZINE Issue #28-DJ. DK Staying with the circus theme, let's move on to the Michael Hedstrom CD Midnight Circus. This one is more consistently devoted to the 'dark carnival' setting than our previous 'clown'de hauntue.' Most of these tracks are devotedly injected into the circus vein, and their more restrained use of extraneous sound FX and vocals will make this CD much easier for most Haunts to use. The first track, Clown Alley, sounds so much like the theme from the movie 'Beetlejuice' that it could easily be mistaken for that soundtrack (or a number of others by Danny Elfman for that matter). That said, if your Haunt has a 'funny bone,' there are numerous musical (de)compositions here that will perfectly capture a wacky, off-kilter mood without the use of specific movie scores. Arrangement and production of the music is quite accomplished, offering some of the most professional sounding and complex melodies you're likely to find on a Halloween CD. If you plan on doing scenes that involve clowns, freaks, humorous ghosts or other tongue-in-cheek terrors, you'll find that the thoughtfully designed and impressively recorded Midnight Circus is a useful collection of tunes with a morbidly funny edge. The 11th and final track of the CD is a teaser for Hedstroms' next album: Clive Manor.

1) Clown Alley
2) Temple of Temptation
3) The Dancing Firebeasts
4) Museum of Oddities
5) The Tunnel of Fun
6) Temple of Temptation II
7) Wild Animal Cages
8) Midnight Midway
9) The Carousel Phonograph
10) The Tunnel of Fun (Effects)
11) Clive Manor