‘Gunpowder Milkshake’ Composer Frank Ilfman Mixes Spaghetti Western, Indie-Rock, Orchestral Sounds (EXCLUSIVE)

The first single from the upcoming film “Gunpowder Milkshake” has been released. Composed by Frank Ilfman (“Big Bad Wolves”), “Goonfight at Gutterball Corral” fuses indie-rock with a spaghetti Western style, further mixed with a large orchestra and soprano vocal.

Directed and co-written by Navot Papushado (also known for”Big Bad Wolves”), the film debuts on Netflix on July 14, along with the motion picture soundtrack. “Gunpowder Milkshake” follows Sam (Karen Gilan), a deadly assassin who was abandoned by her mother, Scarlett (Lena Headley) — also an assassin, just deadlier — at 12 years old. Sam is raised by The Firm, a ruthless crime syndicate her mother worked for. Soon enough, Sam is forced to choose between The Firm and protecting the life of an innocent 8-year-old girl, Emily, who gets caught up in the deadly web.

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Ilfman chose to create signature motifs for each character that repeat throughout, and remain, like catchy earworms, long after the credits have rolled. “Our goal was to create cues that felt like needle drops,” he says. “When you see the film, and you hear it, you know which characters are which.”

The film blends genres from film noir to spaghetti Westerns to spy thrillers and action movies. The composer followed suit and married music styles. “We looked at loud music from the ’60s — Michel Legrand, Henry Mancini and Stelvio Cipriani — for that Western and Italian sound,” he says. “We gave each character each of those styles.”

For Scarlett, the cimbalom was an appropriate match. Thinking of how it was used by John Barry in “The Ipcress File,” Ilfman thought it paired well with her gunslinging spy character.

For “Goonfight at Gutterball Corral,” which sees Scarlett battling the Goons during a sequence at a bowling alley, he couldn’t find the right music to fit that moment. “We didn’t want it to just be playing action; we wanted something that would work almost like a pop track.” Ilfman tried rock songs and even looked at the temp music, but nothing seemed right.

Just before Sam confronts the Goons, Ilfman had built a cue that was influenced by the spaghetti Western. His a-ha moment was Ennio Morricone’s “Ecstasy of Gold” from “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.” Says Ilfman, “What if that was performed by an indie-rock band with a full orchestra and choir?” He added in a soprano vocalist and that was the inspiration that became the song. “When we played that to the picture, it fit perfectly.”

“Gunpowder Milkshake (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)” track list:

1. Opening Titles
2. Home Sweet Home?
3. Scarlet’s Theme
4. Gunpowder Milkshake
5. Big Bad Mommy
6. New Books and Clean Guns
7. Dressed To Kill
8. Le Bonbon
9. A Careless Whisper
10. The Firm
11. The Rollin Roars
12. Goonfight at Gutterball Corral
13. The Monsters
14. Rock Monster
15. Yankee and the Goons
16. Redemption Is For The Careless
17. 13:8 In 60 Seconds
18. La Balada de los Charros
19. Are You a Serial Killer?
20. 944 Bullets
21. The Sam and Emily Story
22. Escape Route
23. Fudge you!
24. Bare Knuckles and Gold Bars
25. The Library Fight
26. The Big Gundown
27. To The Death
28. Madeleine’s Adagio
29. McAlester’s Theme
30. The Standoff
31. Red Dot Marks The Spot
32. Sam’s Theme
33. Ensemble pour toujours

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