Families are complicated, textured things, and I wanted to create a soundtrack to mirror this. I went for a ‘wall of sound’ approach, with swirling, swathing synths interweaving amongst themselves, consuming the atmosphere.
I chose instrumentation to highlight the juxtapositions within the family. The twinkling lighthearted piano represents the cheerful demeanor of the protagonist, working against the oppressive low growls of the antagonist. The delayed piano textures looping in on themselves signifying uncertainty, underneath a single repeating piano note representing resolve. Overall, I wanted the score to give off a sense of ‘breathing.’ Whenever the antagonist is made reference to in the show, the score transitions into a swelling low synth, sounding almost like otherworldly laboured breathing.
Where the score was interesting from my perspective, was that as the story unfolds, the antagonist is perhaps not as menacing and dark as is first assumed. This is shown musically, by making the synths as abstract as possible from the outset, but as the score develops, turning more and more into what sounds loosely like the human voice – ending with an almost soothing, yet still detached single held vocal note.
I will do a breakdown of some key themes, detailing what I have outlined above:
The Other Side
This comes late on in the episode and contains a number of the key themes. There is uncertainty over the nature of the haunting presence. This uncertainty is established at the start of the track from 0:00 – 0:38, there is the single held vocal note I mentioned above, which symbolises the haunting presence perhaps trying to show that he is not the menacing presence once thought, and this is realised in the cadence at 0:39 – 0:46 which is a throwback to the opening music from when we first meet the family; and especially the children in the track Life. The next section of the track signifies the struggle of the protagonist coming to terms with this new member of the family and this then moves into the ‘resolve’ section of the track as the single repeated piano note comes in. The track ends with this ‘family resolve’ motif sitting on top of a dark soundbed of strings as the antagonist’s influence returns.
Jimmy
There are a collection of tracks that demonstrate Jimmy’s themes, but this track contains most of them. The otherworldly breathing is shown right from the outset. This is the breathing theme at its most placated, unlike in tracks such as Can You Hear Me? where the breathing is much more immediate and aggressive sounding. I decided to write Jimmy’s melodic theme (beginning at 1:11 in this track) with a few things in mind. Firstly, there is the obvious creepiness that arises from the situation, but overall I wanted to give a sense of sophistication to the character, as well as a sense of tenderness and love for his grandchildren, demonstrated at 1:40. Jimmy is a very complex character and I wanted his melody to contain a lot of these angles to his makeup.
The Family
The Bennett family itself is the juxtaposition to the darkness of the episode and I wanted the musical theme for them to be the same. I couldn’t think of instrumentation more staunchly opposed to the thick oppressive wall of synths I established throughout the show than the light airiness of woodwind. As a happy coincidence it also keeps the theme of ‘breathing’ going throughout the show with the puffiness of bouncing wind lines.
Not Ready to Leave
These textures sum up the interweaving nature of family life. It has the piano representing the family, though in a more uncertain flux-type nature with Jimmy’s breathing motif playing underneath. The final ‘breath’ of the motif is all the elements blended together, the piano being pitched so low it now sounds like it is at one with Jimmy’s theme. The lines between the family and Jimmy have been blurred entirely.
Production Company : Eleven Film Ltd
Director : Rob Savage
Executive Producers : Jamie Campbell, Alex Marengo, Joel Wilson
Sound Mix : Greg Gettens (Molinare)
Music Composition : Jack Matthias