ABSTRACT
It is said that Folk Horror and hauntology are close cousins, but hauntological music, given its name by Simon Reynolds, and further developed by Mark Fisher, links both of them. Hauntological music is a type of dark ambient music influenced by the library music of The BBC Radiophonic Workshop, KPM, and Bruton Music used for TV and film soundtracks and Public Information Films, inspiring musicians, such as Boards of Canada, Aphex Twin, Dream Division, The Heartwood Institute, The Caretaker, Pye Corner Audio, and Thorsten Schmidt, to explore themes of nostalgia and childhood memories through their music. Such musicians aim to remind listeners of what used to scare them when they were growing up during the 1970s and early 1980s. Why are these musicians drawn to the past? And why is hauntological music always drawn from what we love – what many listeners of mainstream music would call ‘uneasy listening?’ Using examples of occulture, Folk Horror films, and TV shows that have been referenced in hauntology albums, such as Boards of Canada's body of work, Dream Division's The Devil Rides Out, and The Night Monitor's take on The Enfield Poltergeist, the reader of this chapter will have a clearer understanding of what links Folk Horror and hauntology.
