Reverbiage: Stories from NPR tagged 'eeriness'

Julianne Moore: Seeing Past Surfaces In 'Blindness'

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:00:00 EDT

Julianne Moore plays a seeing woman in a sightless world in Blindness, the film adaptation of Jose Saramago's apocalyptic novel. She describes working with director Fernando Meirelles on the eerie film about an epidemic of "White Sickness."

Kira Lynn Cain: 'White As A Dove'

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:57:00 EDT

The cover art for Kira Lynn Cain's debut, The Ideal Hunter, depicts the San Francisco-based chanteuse bearing an uncanny resemblance to 1940s actress Veronica Lake. That, along with the dark background and bright red block lettering of the album's name, makes the artwork seem more like a film noir poster than a CD sleeve. The design choices make sense after listening to The Ideal Hunter, which begins with the haunting song "White as a Dove." The track features eerie cello strokes layered with piano and an occasional, ominous drum beat lurking beneath Cain's breathy vocals.

A Close Encounter with a Homeless Man

Mon, 12 May 2008 15:04:00 EDT

Poet Lewis MacAdams writes short stories about his downtown Los Angeles neighborhood. He calls them his Close to Home stories. In this one, he and his friends have a strange, even eerie, encounter with a homeless man.

Brooding Portent and a Stormy Cataclysm

Mon, 09 Jul 2007 10:38:00 EDT

On "Swing (Parts 1 & 2)," guitarist Mick Turner plucks out a simple, dreamy hook as a violin radiates unease and drummer Jim White helps ratchet up the tension over the course of several eerie minutes. As a solo act, Turner expertly emulates his band, Dirty Three.

The Places: 'I'm A-Gone Down to the Green Fields'

Fri, 18 May 2007 10:46:00 EDT

The Places are a dark, backwoods folk group featuring the voice and songwriting of Amy Annelle. The instrumentation is mostly traditional with lap steel and dobro. But Annelle sweetens the mix with haunting harmonies, drum loops and eerie, distant voices.

Tempering Whimsy with a Sprinkling of Venom

Mon, 19 Mar 2007 19:52:00 EDT

The Bird and the Bee's "I'm A Broken Heart" functions as a great big open wound of a song, a tale of heartbreak that doesn't sound at all heartbroken. Inara George's feathery voice helps render the song eerie and effective, and a miracle of restraint besides.

Ghostly Noise Visits Office Every Afternoon

Thu, 24 Aug 2006 17:59:00 EDT

Every day at four in the afternoon, Lisa Rose hears a mysterious, ghostly sound in her office in Oakland, Calif. Rose explains the origin of the eerie sound: the wind that creeps in through a window.

A Heavenly Voice Keeps 'Da Vinci' Humming

Mon, 22 May 2006 06:00:00 EDT

The soundtrack to the film The Da Vinci Code is filled with celestial voices, high and eerie wails that appear on many film tracks. So what do celestial voices sound like when they talk? Renee Montagne finds out in an interview with Hila Plitmann, the classically trained performer who sings the celestial solos in The Da Vinci Code.

Satellite Spots 'Glowing' Ocean

Sat, 05 Nov 2005 00:00:00 EST

For hundreds of years, ship captains in the Indian Ocean have been writing of nighttime voyages through eerie stretches of brightly lit water. Marine biologists used to ignore those reports, but not anymore.

On Halloween in New Orleans, Many Allusions to Katrina

Tue, 01 Nov 2005 00:00:00 EST

New Orleans always served as an appropriate backdrop for Halloween; but two months after Katrina, the city has a particular eeriness. There was even trick-or-treating in select areas, and costumes that made macabre reference to Katrina.

The Eerie Aural World of Robert Moog

Fri, 26 Aug 2005 00:00:00 EDT

We remember Robert Moog, inventor of the Moog synthesizer. He died this week at age 71.

Songwriter Ridgway Offers Potent, Eerie 'Snakebite'

Sun, 19 Sep 2004 00:00:00 EDT

His former band Wall of Voodoo broke up in 1983, but Stan Ridgway is still spinning stories of intriguing, eccentric characters in song. He talks to NPR's Liane Hansen about his new CD.