The Sum of Its Parts

A while back, William Ryan Fritch and Lost Tribe Sound embarked on a massive undertaking to release a series of 12 albums from Fritch over a two year period. Known as the ‘Leave Me Series,’ it covered a wide spectrum of sound, including two soundtracks offered as series exclusives from Fritch’s work for film during that period. For the subscribers who had the chance to hear these original soundtracks for the films, ‘The Old Believers’ and ‘The Sum Of Its Parts,’ they were heralded as two of the most prized and cohesive scores in Fritch’s vast catalog.  Knowing how loved these works became, LTS has decided to open the musical vaults and make these albums available to the public for the first time. As for ‘The Sum Of Its Parts,’ the feature film from award winning filmmaker/editor Fiona Otway’s introduces some of the world’s foremost robot researchers alongside tomorrow’s future leaders in robotics. This film explores the messy front lines of the crusade to make robots part of our everyday experience. From initial sketches, to soldering wires, to programming actions and performing experiments “in the wild”, scientists, high school students, and artists obsessed with bringing robots to life are shaping a new era in our relationship with technology. Yet, by observing their successes and failures along the way, what becomes clear is that robots actually have a lot to teach us about what it means to be human. ‘The Sum of Its Parts’ is a celebration of hands-on human creativity, and a contemplation of our deep need for connection and community as a source of meaning in our lives. ‘The Sum of Its Parts’ soundtrack, composed and performed entirely by William Ryan Fritch, is a dynamic counterpart to the film’s central themes and philosophical inquiries. The score’s markedly organic instrumentation (string ensemble, french horn, vibraphone and prepared piano), is wrought into circuitous rhythms and patterns that hum, churn and grind with a mechanical steadiness that belies the achingly human and expressive compositions they propel. It should be noted, that calling ‘The Old Believers’ and ‘Sum Of Its Parts’ soundtracks paints an incomplete picture. Too often the genre or classification of “soundtrack” brings to mind sloppily arranged carbon copies of a film’s cues; often just a few main themes and a collection of one minute tracks that, when not set to picture, fall short of an overall worthy listen.   This is where Fritch’s soundtracks truly separate themselves. For LTS released soundtracks (such as 2013’s ‘The Waiting Room’ or 2016’s ‘Birkitshi’) Fritch spends a great deal of time after the film is finished making the soundtrack experience stand on its own, making sure it tells an incredibly strong story even without the visuals. This attention to detail becomes evident when listening to masterful ebb and flow of an album like ‘The Old Believers.’ While it’s just semantics, Fritch’s “soundtracks” could easily sit right along side the most cohesive LP’s out there. In addition, the readapted soundtrack to 'The Old Believers' has received quite the facelift since it was first shared during the Leave Me series. Both albums feature brand new cover artwork and Fritch has reimagined 'The Old Believers,' adding 8 brand new songs to the album. This brings it to a whopping 20 songs, clocking at 48 minutes of music. Preview and purchase The Old Believers (Extended Edition) here: williamryanfritch.bandcamp.com/album/the-old-believers-extended-edition

William Ryan Fritch fans that have come late to the party are in luck: two of the folkloric contemporary classical composer's previous exclu...