‘Midsommar’ (from ‘Hereditary’ director) scored by The Haxan Cloak
Midsommar is the new horror freakout from Ari Aster who gave us 2018's excellent Hereditary. The film stars Florence Pugh (so good in The Little Drummer Girl) and Jack Reynor as a young couple whose relationship is on the brink of collapse, but who agree to attend a "once-in-a-lifetime midsummer festival in a remote Swedish village." Needless to say, things get weird from there. Aster described the film to Vulture as "a Wizard of Oz for perverts." Who wouldn't want to see that? You can watch the trailer below, but if Hereditary is any example, going into Midsommar knowing as little as possible might be optimal. Midsommar is out July 3.
Adding to the creepy vibe is the score by Bobby Krlic, aka The Haxan Cloak, who has done production work with Bjork, Lost Under Heaven, Goldfrapp, The Body, serpentwithfeet, HEALTH and others, in addition to making his own dark electronic music. There is also music within the film, that characters play and sing, that he wrote as well. According to the press release, the script was written "so the characters would have these wordless, atonal, ritualistic songs." Aster and Krlic developed a vocal language for the characters in the film to sing and then used traditional Nordic instruments, like the hurdy gurdy, to perform them. "Trying to live up to the expectations of a director who wrote the script to my music was an intimidating task,” says Krlic, “but in the end I believe it’s been the most rewarding and deeply educational experience I’ve ever had. Not only was working with Ari Aster an honour, but the work was a true collaboration.” There haven't been any tracks from the score shared but you can check out the tracklist (which might constitute a spoiler, be warned) below.
To promote Midsommar, distributor A24 made a pretty clever mock-Coachella poster, and you can check that out below.
You may recall Colin Stetson scored Hereditary.
Midsommar OST tracklist:
Track listing:
1.Prophesy
2.Gassed
3.Hålsingland
4.The House that Hårga Built
5.Attestupan
6.Ritual In Transfigured Time
7.Murder (Mystery)
8.The Blessing
9.Chorus of Sirens
10.A Language of Sex
11.Hårga, Collapsing
12.Fire Temple