10 Essential Film Scores According to HAIM’s Este Haim and Christopher Stracey
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The post 10 Essential Film Scores According to HAIM’s Este Haim and Christopher Stracey appeared first on Consequence.
Crate Digging is a recurring feature that takes a deep dive into music history to turn up several albums all music fans should know. In this edition, co-composers Este Haim and Christopher Stracey break down some iconic film scores.
If there’s one thing that’s immediately going to make Este Haim fall in love with a film score, it’s an air of “haunting beauty.” “Maybe it’s my brand,” she says, speaking with Consequence alongside her co-composer, Christopher Stracey. The two are responsible for the score in the upcoming Hulu film Suncoast, which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
In addition to the work with her sisters she’s most known for, Este Haim has also developed an impressive repertoire of scores over the last five years: the 2021 Netflix series Maid, indie darling Cha Cha Real Smooth, and this year’s box office sleeper hit, Anyone But You, have all benefitted from her compositions. Composer and producer Christopher Stracey was her musical partner on all three, and the latest collaboration from the duo arrives for the general public this week in the coming-of-age movie Suncoast.
The semi-autobiographical story from director Laura Chinn stars Nico Parker as Doris, a teenager navigating her experience caring for a very sick brother. “In Doris’s case, she has to grow up so fast, because she’s experiencing something that everyone will eventually experience, but she’s experiencing it very early,” says Stracey, reflecting on developing the score. “I think there’s a real melancholy in the loss of that innocence.”
When speaking about scores that shaped their individual musical sensibilities, it’s clear how much both artists genuinely love this part of the filmmaking process, from the atmospheric eeriness of Annihilation to the human delicacy of Rosemary’s Baby.
Suncoast arrives on Hulu tomorrow, February 9th, on Hulu. Watch the trailer below, and read on for Este and Christopher’s picks for noteworthy scores.
Various Artists – Boogie Nights
Haim: I grew up completely idolizing Paul Thomas Anderson for many reasons, but a big one was because he was born and raised in the Valley, and I saw a very, very edited version of Boogie Nights on TBS when I was probably 11 or 12 years old. I remember just thinking, “This is the best movie of all time,” mostly because a big part of PTA’s genius is his needle drops. He just has such impeccable music taste, he’s such an audiophile, and you can tell, because all of his soundtracks are incredible.
The Boogie Nights soundtrack really spoke to me because that was all the music that I was listening to at the time — music from the ’70s and ’80s. Disco was really big for me when I was in middle school, mostly because my parents listened to that music, and that’s what we would listen to in the car, because they had jurisdiction over the the dial.
The scene with the backyard party and the chorus of “Spill the Wine” starts the second someone backflips into the water is emblazoned into my mind. You’re underwater seeing everyone’s legs and seeing John C. Reilly struggle underwater. It’s such a beautiful moment with such an incredible needle drop, and I remember buying that soundtrack at Second Spin the day after watching it. My parents were okay with me playing it because it was all music that they loved.
Jonny Greenwood – There Will Be Blood
Haim: It’s hard for me to talk about the combination of Paul Thomas Anderson and Jonny Greenwood. They’re such a gruesome twosome: Paul has such impeccable taste when it comes to music, and Jonny Greenwood is obviously such a genius.
Aside from being in Radiohead and playing some of my favorite guitar solos maybe ever and writing some of my favorite songs ever, this soundtrack is so brutal and so intense, while also not hitting you over the head with it at the same time. It almost leaves you feeling it in your marrow. I saw There Will Be Blood in theaters — watching it on a TV just doesn’t do it justice.
I feel like it was the first time I really noticed sonics; I’d noticed John Williams scores and thinking they were beautiful, and I’d noticed nuance in scores, too, but the sonics of There Will Be Blood…it’s this beautiful, orchestral thing — it was the sounds and the tones that he decided to use in that score that I really took notice of. It’s really beautiful and haunting, and it’s what lingered with me after the movie was done.
Kenji Kawai – Ghost In the Shell
Haim: That score is also very intense and beautiful and haunting, but the thing I really love about it is the use of the Bulgarian women’s choir. The intervals and really close harmonies make the air on your arms stand up. Coming from a Western music perspective, we don’t hear things like that very often. I think the use of that in the score was very smart — instead of using a typical choir, the timbre is just different in Bulgarian music.
It’s not like a choir you would hear in a Western or American church. The nasality and how in front of the mask the singers are is so indicative of Balkan music. It just adds such a magical flavor to the score.
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross – The Social Network
Haim: You can’t go wrong with Atticus and Trent. I’m a huge fan of Nine Inch Nails, and it was so cool to see a musician doing the music for a film. The melodies and everything they use are beautiful, but I think the tones they used, sonically, were really interesting on that soundtrack. Their use of high end was really cool.
As a composer, even now, I go back to that soundtrack when I’m trying to get inspiration. I think a lot of directors use it as a reference, too, so I go back to it and get it in my blood. They love that soundtrack, and there’s so much to love about it.
Christopher Komeda – Rosemary’s Baby
Haim:Rosemary’s Baby is one of my favorite movies of all time. The whole surrealist element to that movie is very attractive to me. But what I really love is that they used Mia Farrow’s voice; a lot of composers will disagree with me, but I think it’s always nice to hear the human voice. It’s something people automatically snap into. You have an instant connection to the character before you ever see her face on screen. It was a really smart choice.
It’s overall so haunting and beautiful, and I know I’ve said that about all of these, but maybe that’s my brand.
Vangelis – Blade Runner
Stracey: I first saw Blade Runner because I had a really cool English teacher in high school. The writing in that movie is amazing, and I was already into sci-fi because my brother was obsessed with Star Trek, and I used to watch it with him. So I liked Blade Runner from the get-go, but it was the first time I saw how cool a synthesizer score can be.
At the time, I was fooling around with guitar — I’d played violin for years and a bit of clarinet and saxophone, but I’d never touched a synthesizer, or even seen one, really. Hearing all those sounds felt so futuristic. It sent me down a rabbit hole, and now my studio is full of synthesizers.
Haim: His studio is like a womb, or a warm hug. It’s like being in the bath reading The New Yorker.
Ben Salisbury & Geoff Barrow – Annihilation
Stracey: I listened to the score before I saw the movie because of the track called “The Alien.” It’s a 12-minute suite, and the synth work is insane. It’s the coolest thing. Visually it’s such a cool film, and sonically, it’s such a cool soundtrack. It has such strong themes, and the sound design is insane. I love how much of the score is just uneasy atmospheres.
And then suddenly, you get just one person finger-picking a guitar on the top, and you’re like, “Oh, cool. All right.” There’s this juxtaposition of the creepy atmosphere and then something so familiar. It really helps paint the picture for that film.
Mica Levi – Under the Skin
Stracey: Growing up playing the violin, it’s a funny instrument. I spent a lot of my childhood indoors practicing and got into all kinds of string music, but my favorite thing was to learn pieces that had weird techniques in them — harmonics and stuff. Part of my final school exam in music was a contemporary Australian piece, and I did this piece that was a duet for two strings and it’s got crazy techniques in it. It’s basically inspired by heavy metal.
And what I loved about the Under the Skin score is how creepy it is, and how it uses those kinds of harmonics in a ghostly way. You have creepy melodies and textures with a lot of viola and cellos. A big part of it for me is the non-traditional way of approaching those instruments.
Ryuichi Sakamoto & Alva Noto – The Revenant
Stracey: This is one I love for the way it marries something so old and beautiful with these strange and atmospheric elements. You have big ensemble chords, and then so much space. It reminds me of what you see in The Revenant and that overwhelming whiteness of being in the snow.
Do you remember in [the documentary] Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda? There’s a moment where he’s in the snow listening to a waterfall. The silence aspect of music and the rest between the notes is such a huge part of what makes music, music.
As composers, we often hear a sound — the particular way that the construction site is using the bandsaw — it’s a moment where you realize there’s something cool about that. Paying attention to your environment is one thing Ryuichi Sakamoto incorporated so much into his music. He was one of the greatest of all time, and we’re so, so lucky that we had him contributing to this planet.
John Williams – Jurassic Park
Stracey: When you’re a kid and you’re in your dinosaur era, seeing that onscreen is a formative experience. The score is the big, brass classic melody that we all know and love from John Williams. There’s no greater jubilation. When it comes to an old Hollywood theme, no one does it better. E.T., Star Wars, Indiana Jones…that’s what an orchestra is for, you know?
Haim: There was a point when we were making our second record where every song I wrote had the theme from Jurassic Park. It’s in my marrow. I’d write a song and my sisters would have to say, “That’s still Jurassic Park.” It’s in my musical DNA.
10 Essential Film Scores According to HAIM’s Este Haim and Christopher Stracey
Mary Siroky
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