A Peaceful Killing

Last updated
"A Peaceful Killing"
Single by Matthew Barton and Darius Shu
Genre
Length5:28
Label
Songwriter(s) Darius Shu, Matthew Barton
Producer(s) Matthew Barton

"A Peaceful Killing" is a song recorded by British singer-songwriter Matthew Barton. It was self-released digitally under Silverprince Pictures. [1] The song was written by Darius Shu, Barton, and produced by Barton himself, and mixed and mastered by Sam Wain. [2] Arron Blake and Darius Shu, director of the 2021 film I AM Norman , approached the singer to contribute an original song to the film. [3]

Contents

A music video for the track was released on YouTube. [1] Critical response to the song was generally positive. [1]

Composition and Lyrics

A Peaceful Killing is an indie-folk ballad with folk-pop influences. In an interview, Barton said that “The imagery in the song rests on the tension between the beautiful and the brutal. I think it represents our lives in general.” [4] Shu said that he "...had in mind to capture the feeling of what I was feeling this year when everything we had planned for 2020 came to a halt. I'm sure many people felt the same way as I did. [1] To put those emotions through poetic lyrics in a song, that there will be light and hope and how all this chaos in the world can be so painful yet confusing to an individual." [1] Barton delivers a "haunting" vocal performance with a stunning, cinematic piano line along with the imagery created by the lyrics, this friction really hones in on the idea that life can be simultaneously kind and cruel, in equal measure. [3]

Critical reception

Chalkpit Records praised the song as, "A torrent of movielike musicality...'A Peaceful Killing" should soundtrack more than just a movie this winter." Matthew Barton describes the song as "a song tensions between the ‘beautiful and the brutal". YMX MusicBlog compared the track to the darkly dramatic vocal delivery of Tori Amos and the blissfully bare atmosphere created in the work of Sufjan Stevens.  The Other Side Reviews complement the song lyrics as, "...painting a dark drama with an undertone of hope" and how A Peaceful Killing, "... draws you in with an epic piano line that sends you soaring into the atmospheric soundscape." Turtle Tempo compares it as a "Reminiscent of Tori Amos and Fiona Apple ... ‘A Peaceful Killing’ takes on the painful and pleasurable aspects of reality." [5] IndyReviews complimented how the song is a beautiful denouement that immediately provokes chills. Rich piano melodies are woven through the choral echoes of the lyrics creating a perfect reflection of the man resigned to carry the souls of those who couldn’t bear the weight alone." [6] [7] [4]

Promotion and music video

A music video for "A Peaceful Killing" was released on Silverprince Pictures' YouTube channel. [1] The video featured scenes of a man carrying a body, grieving and giving respect of losing his loved ones." [1]

Track listings and formats

  1. "A Peaceful Killing" – 5:28

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tori Amos</span> American musician

Tori Amos is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. She is a classically trained musician with a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Having already begun composing instrumental pieces on piano, Amos won a full scholarship to the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University at the age of five, the youngest person ever to have been admitted. She had to leave at the age of eleven when her scholarship was discontinued for what Rolling Stone described as "musical insubordination". Amos was the lead singer of the short-lived 1980s pop group Y Kant Tori Read before achieving her breakthrough as a solo artist in the early 1990s. Her songs focus on a broad range of topics, including sexuality, feminism, politics, and religion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Professional Widow</span> 1996 single by Tori Amos

"Professional Widow" is a song written by the American singer-songwriter Tori Amos, released on her third album, Boys for Pele (1996). It is a harpsichord-driven rock song. Its lyrics are rumored to have been inspired by the American songwriter Courtney Love.

<i>Boys for Pele</i> 1996 studio album by Tori Amos

Boys for Pele is the third studio album by American singer and songwriter Tori Amos. Preceded by the first single, "Caught a Lite Sneeze", by three weeks, the album was released on January 22, 1996, in the United Kingdom, on January 23 in the United States, and on January 29 in Australia. Despite the album being Amos's least radio friendly material to date, Boys for Pele debuted at number two on both the US Billboard 200 and the UK Albums Chart, making it her biggest simultaneous transatlantic debut, her first Billboard top 10 debut, and the highest-charting US debut of her career to date.

<i>Scarlets Walk</i> 2002 studio album by Tori Amos

Scarlet's Walk is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter and pianist Tori Amos. It was released on October 28, 2002 in the UK and October 29 in the US on Epic Records, making it her first release on the label after her split with Atlantic Records. Her first studio album of original material since To Venus and Back in 1999, the 18-track concept album details the cross-country travels of Scarlet, a character loosely based on Amos, and was greatly inspired by the changes in American society and politics post-September 11, 2001. Topics explored on the album include nationalism, personal relationships, and the death of a close friend. Amos also took inspiration from the stories of her grandfather, who she claims was Cherokee and told her of the abuses against Native Americans throughout the United States' history.

<i>Under the Pink</i> 1994 studio album by Tori Amos

Under the Pink is the second studio album by singer-songwriter Tori Amos. Upon its release in January 1994, the album debuted atop the UK Albums Chart on the back of the hit single "Cornflake Girl", and peaked at number 12 in the US.

Ian Christopher Stanley is a British musician, songwriter and record producer. He was previously a member of the English band Tears for Fears for most of the 1980s, and played a key role in the making of their multi-platinum selling second studio album Songs from the Big Chair.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cornflake Girl</span> 1994 single by Tori Amos

"Cornflake Girl" is a song by American singer-songwriter Tori Amos. It was released on January 10, 1994, as the first single from her second studio album, Under the Pink (1994), by EastWest Records in the United Kingdom, and on May 5, 1994, by Atlantic Records in North America. Singer Merry Clayton provided backing vocals and sang the "man with the golden gun" bridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tori Amos discography</span>

Tori Amos is an American pianist and singer-songwriter whose musical career began in 1980, at the age of seventeen, when she and her brother co-wrote the song "Baltimore". The song was selected as the winning song in a contest for the Baltimore Orioles and was recorded and pressed locally as a 7" single. From 1984 to 1989, Amos fronted the synth-pop band Y Kant Tori Read, which released one self-titled album with Atlantic Records in 1988 before breaking up. Shortly thereafter, Amos began writing and recording material that would serve as the debut of her solo career. Still signed with Atlantic, and its UK counterpart East West, Amos' initial solo material was rejected by the label in 1990. Under the guidance of co-producers Eric Rosse, Davitt Sigerson and Ian Stanley, a second version of the album was created and accepted by the label the following year.

<i>American Doll Posse</i> 2007 studio album by Tori Amos

American Doll Posse is the ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter Tori Amos, released in 2007 by Epic Records. A concept album, American Doll Posse sees Amos assuming the identity of five different female personalities inspired by Greek mythology in order to narrate stories of life in modern America. Themes include opposition to the Iraq War, recording industry misogyny, disillusionment, sexuality, personal loss, and female empowerment in general. Musically, the record is more rock-oriented than other studio works by Amos, notably featuring more guitar and drums than previous albums The Beekeeper (2005) and Scarlet's Walk (2002).

<i>Midwinter Graces</i> 2009 studio album by Tori Amos

Midwinter Graces is the eleventh solo studio album by singer-songwriter Tori Amos, released on November 10, 2009, through Universal Republic Records. It is the first seasonal album by Amos and is also notable for marking her return to a more classical, stripped-down, baroque sound with various synths, string instruments, the harpsichord, and Amos's own signature Bösendorfer piano at center stage, once more. The album, like previous releases from Amos, is available in a single-form CD or a deluxe edition, which includes three bonus tracks, a twenty-page photo book, and a DVD containing an interview with Amos. The standard edition was not released in the US or Canada. Midwinter Graces became Amos's lowest-charting album on the Billboard 200, peaking at number 66.

<i>Little Earthquakes</i> 1992 studio album by Tori Amos

Little Earthquakes is the debut solo album by the American singer-songwriter Tori Amos, featuring the singles "Silent All These Years", "China", "Winter" and "Crucify". After Atlantic Records rejected the first version of the album, Amos began working on a second version with her then-boyfriend Eric Rosse. The album was first released in the UK on January 6, 1992, where it peaked at number 14 in the charts.

<i>Night of Hunters</i> 2011 studio album by Tori Amos

Night of Hunters is the twelfth solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Tori Amos, released on September 20, 2011, in the United States through Deutsche Grammophon. It is a concept album that Amos has described as "a 21st century song cycle inspired by classical music themes spanning over 400 years." She pays tribute to classical composers such as Alkan, Bach, Chopin, Debussy, Granados, Satie and Schubert, taking inspiration from their original compositions to create new, independent songs. Regarding the album's concept, she has described it as the exploration of "the hunter and the hunted and how both exist within us" through the story of "a woman who finds herself in the dying embers of a relationship."

John Philip Shenale is a Canadian composer, arranger, musician and producer based in Los Angeles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trouble's Lament</span> 2014 single by Tori Amos

"Trouble's Lament" is a song by American singer/songwriter Tori Amos from her 14th studio album, Unrepentant Geraldines (2014). It was released as the album's lead promotional single on March 28, 2014, by Universal/Mercury Classics as a digital download only.

<i>The Light Princess</i> (musical) 2013 musical by Tori Amos

The Light Princess is a musical with music and lyrics by Tori Amos and a book by Samuel Adamson based on the Scottish fairy tale of the same name by George MacDonald.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darius Shu</span> British cinematographer (born 1994)

Darius Shu is a British cinematographer, film director and producer, best known for his work on the films His Hands, Mical and Secret Child. His directorial debut short film His Hands premiered at Tribeca Film Festival 2019 and was nominated for Best Narrative Short. The latest documentary that he shot, Always, Asifa, part of a limited television series on ITVX and Sky TV, is nominated at the BAFTA TV Awards 2023. Shu is the founder and managing director of Silverprince Pictures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arron Blake</span> British actor (born 1987)

Arron Blake is an English actor and director. A graduate of The Poor School in London, Blake's directorial debut short film His Hands with Darius Shu premiered at Tribeca Film Festival 2019 and was nominated for Best Narrative Short.

<i>Christmastide</i> (EP) 2020 EP by Tori Amos

Christmastide is an extended play by singer and songwriter Tori Amos. Released on December 4, 2020, it is her second release to feature holiday-themed material after 2009's Midwinter Graces, and the first of which to contain exclusively original material.

<i>I Am Norman</i> 2020 British docu-fiction LGBTQ+ thriller short film

I Am Norman is a 2020 British docu-fiction LGBTQ+ thriller short film directed by Arron Blake and Darius Shu. The film follows a filmmaker documenting a man who lives in a car as he takes him into the woods to share a dark secret. The film aims to raise awareness of the effects of gay conversion therapy and suicide. It is executive produced by Philip Brisebois and produced by Silverprince Pictures in association with Little Deer Films.

<i>Ocean to Ocean</i> 2021 studio album by Tori Amos

Ocean to Ocean is the sixteenth studio album by American musician Tori Amos. It was released on October 29, 2021 through Decca Records. The album was written during lockdown from the COVID-19 pandemic in Cornwall, England and featured the musicians collaborating remotely, with recording occurring in England, California, and Massachusetts. It is Amos' first studio album since Midwinter Graces (2009) to feature her typical backing band of Matt Chamberlain on drums, Jon Evans on bass, and Mac Aladdin on guitar.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Silverprince Pictures | A Peaceful Killing". Silverprince 2.0. Archived from the original on 2020-11-17. Retrieved 2020-11-17.
  2. A Peaceful Killing (Matthew Barton & Darius Shu) , retrieved 2020-11-28
  3. 1 2 "A torrent of movielike musicality, 'A Peaceful Killing' should soundtrack more than just a movie". Chalkpit Records. Archived from the original on 2020-11-16. Retrieved 2020-11-17.
  4. 1 2 "MATTHEW BARTON UNVEILS STUNNING SINGLE 'A PEACEFUL KILLING' FROM THE 'I AM NORMAN' SOUNDTRACK". YMX MusicBlog. 2020-11-12. Retrieved 2020-11-17.[ permanent dead link ]
  5. Mendes, Nicole (2020-11-12). "NEW MUSIC: Matthew Barton - A Peaceful Killing". Turtle Tempo. Retrieved 2020-11-17.
  6. "I AM NORMAN – Short Film Review – Indy Reviews" . Retrieved 2020-11-17.
  7. Claudia (2020-11-12). "Matthew Barton – A Peaceful Killing (2020)". The Other Side Reviews. Retrieved 2020-11-17.