Clive Barker’s Candyman has been reimagined by Nia DaCosta (Little Woods, upcoming Captain Marvel 2), and the new score is by Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, who you might know under his solo moniker as Lichens, which merged voice and modulars synthesizer into new and intricate worlds. He also collaborated with Yoshimi (Boredoms, OOIOO, SAICOBAB), and avant-garde percussionist Susie Ibarra a couple of years ago for Flower of Sulphur (Thrill Jockey) the trio have continued to perform together under the name Yunohana Variations. Lowe has also contributed music to Denis Villeneuve films Sicario and Arrival working alongside the late Jóhann Jóhannsson.
Scoring Candyman was always going to be a daunting task, particularly considering the previous soundtrack was composed by Philip Glass. This is something Lowe was conscious of, acknowledging those earlier established cultural touchstones of its predecessor, but also offer up an entirely new perspective and voice more representative of 2021. You can hear the fruits of this approach in this piece ‘Rows and Towers’, the first to be released from the OST. It’s pretty clear that this isnt your run of the mill OST.
This is what he has to say about it:
“As the film dealt with mirror play and folklore, I was keen to echo these themes and wanted very much to play with and create sounds that have a distinct familiarity, but utilize instruments that were not expected. Taking the sound of a human voice and processing and manipulating it to become more like strings or metal was a technique that I felt gave the score a curious nature, as the spoken word “Candyman” lost it’s recognition but not it’s energy. To use electronics to create percussion or strings or stringed instruments to create brass, these were some of the techniques used to complete the score. Going on location and taking field recordings of the spaces in which the film was shot to then blend into the score as textural elements was also an intention to give these electroacoustic compositions a body.”
Candyman OST will be released by Waxwork Records on the 27th of August 2021. You can find it here.
