Featuring a photo of the gothic Oakley Court on its cover, supposedly one of England’s most haunted houses (Hammer House shot several films there), A Portmanteau of Horrors is the latest offering from Drew Mullholland.
Just in time for Halloween, experimental composer and hauntology pioneer Drew Mulholland has released ‘A Portmanteau of Horrors,’ a new album that showcases his ‘soundcraftian magic’ in the realm of classic cinematic horror. Released today, October 31, 2025, the album is a series of wonderfully evocative, gently unsettling tableaux that conjure vivid tales from the dark side.
Mulholland, a central figure in the field of sound and psychogeography, brings his full academic and creative weight to the project. Known for his seminal work with the cult band Mount Vernon Arts Lab and as a lecturer and composer-in-residence at Glasgow University, Mulholland is widely acclaimed for his contributions to the nebulous field of hauntology. This new release is a perfect distillation of his unique talent for crafting soundtracks to unseen, counter-cultural narratives.
‘A Portmanteau of Horrors’ is like a curated gothic artefact. The album is packaged with an irresistibly creepy gothic elan, a visual collaboration between Mulholland and Timmi Meskers, the artist behind the musical project Garden Gate. Meskers’ own work, which often involves scoring conceptual horror films and crafting “uniquely haunted” atmospherics, makes her the perfect partner to create the album’s visual identity.
The album’s dark lore is further deepened by its other contributors. The track “Serpents” features narration by Eileen Budd, a Scottish author, artist, and storyteller who specialises in the rich, often dark, oral traditions and folklore of Scotland. Her voice lends an authentic, ancient chill to Mulholland’s sonic tapestry.
To guide listeners through this shadowy landscape, the album’s sleeve notes are penned by Lauren Barnett, author of DEATH LINES: Walking London’s Horror History. As an expert in the psychogeography of horror cinema, Barnett provides the ideal critical framework for Mulholland’s chilling compositions.
An unmissable, spine-chilling treat for Halloween, ‘A Portmanteau of Horrors’ is a testament to the power of sound to evoke the unseen, cementing Drew Mulholland’s status as a master of the uncanny.
John Harries and The Cunning Man (Short Film)
Among the many manuscripts, you can peruse online at The National Library of Wales is a manuscript volume, a Book of Incantations, from the library of John Harries (d. 1839), of Pantcoy, Cwrtycadno, Carmarthenshire. He was an astrologer and medical practitioner. The manuscript contains the spirit lists and seals of the 17th-century grimoires Goetia and Theurgia-Goetia (view it here) and details of “how the ‘cunning man’ could cause benign spirits to appear, listing the attributes of each spirit, with diagrams that represent the named spirit to be conjured.”
The Harries family became renowned for their ability to predict the future, recover lost or stolen property, combating witchcraft, and invoking benign spirits, and as a result, were severely condemned by the mainstream religious people of the 19th century.
He was a cunning man…a term (also cunning folk) used when referring to “practitioners of folk medicine, folk magic, and divination“. If you want to learn more about folk magic and cunning folk, pay a visit to the independent Museum of Witchcraft and Magic in Boscastle. More details can be found on their website here: https://museumofwitchcraftandmagic.co.uk/.
Taking inspiration from the story of John Harries, director Zoe Dobson and writer Ali Cook created the short film “The Cunning Man” featuring Simon Armstrong and Charlotte Jo Hanbury.
The film tells the story of an elderly and mysterious farmer who drifts through the Welsh valleys collecting dead animals.
Refusing the services of the local abattoir’s collector, what he has in store for these creatures is beyond anyone’s imagination. An enchanted tale in the face of callous greed.
Mixtape: A Folk Horror Special from 2023
Featuring Justin Hopper and Sharron Kraus (also solo), United Bible Studies, Dean McPhee, Rob St. John, Broadcast & The Focus Group, Voice of the Seven Woods, Pye Corner Audio & The Advisory Circle, Offa Rex, Ian Humberstone, Sproatly Smith and Meg Baird (also with Mary Lattimore).
Show Playlist
- Justin Hopper and Sharron Kraus – Dawn
- United Bible Studies – Veil Song
- Dean McPhee – Avian Dream Songs – The Robin
- Rob St. John – Charcoal Black and the Bonny Grey
- Broadcast & The Focus Group – The Be Colony
- Voice of the Seven Woods – Sailing to Byzantium
- Pye Corner Audio & The Advisory Circle – Cloud Control
- Sharron Kraus – Figs and Flowers (Oh Sweet Dawn)
- Offa Rex – The Gardener
- Ian Humberstone – Song for Mariann Voaden
- Sproatly Smith – Seedling
- Justin Hopper & Sharron Kraus – October
- Meg Baird – Even Rain
- Meg Baird and Mary Lattimore – Between Two Worlds
- Pye Corner Audio & The Advisory Circle – November Sequence
- Justin Hopper and Sharron Kraus – Outside the Ring
- United Bible Studies – The Dalesman’s Litany – The Burning Sea
Penelope Trappes ‘Sleep’ video starring Maxine Peake and Kate Dickie
Brighton-based Australian vocalist, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Penelope Trappes released her fifth full-length album ‘A Requiem’ on via One Little Independent last year. The album is described as ten haunting, ambient soundscapes – incantations of dreams and nightmares, of death and grief, as well as power and autonomy. Carnal, transcendent cello drones are used to exorcise historical and generational traumas in an evocative and macabre piece of gothic experimentalism.
Aptly timed for Samhain, the night when the worlds of the living and the dead are closest, her new single ‘Sleep‘, is accompanied by a gothic marvel, directed by Agnes Haus, which features Maxine Peake and Kate Dickie. Penelope says: “As ‘Sleep’ is about a dream my father had and had echoes of Henry Fuseli’s ‘The Nightmare’, I decided to bring that painting to life – me as the ‘sleep hag’, but I needed an actor to be the ‘sleeping victim’. As a massive fan of Maxine Peake’s work, I reached out to her about working together on it. In a totally independent occurrence, I was introduced to Kate Dickie – who I am also a big fan of – and she was nearby and happy to get involved. It was an absolutely perfect cast! Three witches! We all chatted about politics in the kitchen and filmed an unscripted pseudo-horror film about sleep paralysis in a bedroom – and it all worked out beautifully!”
Talking further about the lyrics, she adds, “It’s infinitely hard to even sing these words as it’s such a conflicting thing to think about – an oddly indifferent longing for your parents’ life to come to a close, for them to peacefully escape their pain and be released. Musically the sound was heavier and more gut-wrenching than I have ever sounded before. It was a drastic and extreme purge of emotion”.