William Ryan Fritch - The Old Believers (Extended Edition) (2017)

In 2014, 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. In addition, ‘The Old Believers’ album has received quite the facelift since it first appeared in the series. Along with the new cover artwork, Fritch has rearranged and incorporated 8 new compositions.The additional music was taken from two other recent films that also center around the plight of those that are displaced and seeking refuge (including 2016’s academy award nominated documentary ‘4.1 Miles’).These new pieces offer engrossing textures and beautiful themes that unlock new depths to the solemn meditations of its previous iteration.

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.