Whether it’s synthesizers or orchestras, Ben Lovett is a master at helping to tell stories through music. Lovett’s latest score, for Emma Tammi’s supernatural western The Wind, is a testament to his ingenuity. Today, Vehlinggo premieres “Across the Prairie” from that score, which comes out on Friday, April 5, via Lakeshore Records.
Regular Vehlinggo readers are very much familiar with Lovett. There was the 2016 in-depth interview stemming from the release of his synth score for Jacob Gentry’s time-travel film Synchronicity and the 2018 interview centered on his more orchestral work on David Bruckner’s exquisite Netflix horror film The Ritual.
For IFC’s The Wind, we find Lovett tapping into some unconventional but compelling instrumental approaches. His score prominently features the airy atmosphere of a bass flute and the soulful renderings of a Nyckelharpa, a traditional Swedish keyed violin that creates some fascinating tones.
“The constant presence of wind on the prairie plays a big role in the story and I was asked early on if there was a way to represent that in the score,” Lovett says. “It was an intriguing request, because we don’t actually hear wind around us; we hear other things affected by the wind. That conversation lead me to experimenting with instruments like the bass flute, which I used to create the breathy, ambient soundscapes throughout the film.”
“There are also wind chimes and this little handmade folk doorbell I bought in the mountains of North Carolina, which has little wooden balls on string that bounce off suspended pieces of wire,” Lovett continued. “The sound it makes isn’t unpleasant, but it’s so unnerving to me — something about that small, persistent decaying sound is like a tiny question that won’t leave you alone, a presence that keeps knocking at the door of your subconscious. The track also includes a variation on the main theme performed on the Nyckelharpa, which is this crazy 15th century folk instrument that really embodies that coarse, tactile feeling of life on the prairie.”
The Wind — directed by Emma Tammi, written by Teresa Sutherland, and starring Caitlin Gerard and Julia Goldani-Telles — is set out West on the plains in the late 1800s and follows a woman driven mad by the harshness and isolation of the untamed land. The film will be released in theaters and VOD by IFC Films on Friday. Lakeshore Records will release The Wind—Original Motion Picture Soundtrack digitally the same day.
Pre-order Lovett’s The Wind score. Otherwise, you’ll be able to pick it up on release day. A vinyl version is coming soon via MONDO/Death Waltz with cover art by Candice Tripp.
