Pearl (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack to the 2022 film Pearl directed by Ti West; a prequel to X and the second installment in the X film series. The film score is composed by Tyler Bates and Timothy Williams and released through A24 Music on September 23, 2022.

Pearl (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Film score by
ReleasedSeptember 23, 2022
Recorded2022
GenreFilm score
Length49:32
LabelA24 Music
Producer
Tyler Bates chronology
Day Shift
(2022)
Pearl
(2022)
Agent Elvis
(2023)
Timothy Williams chronology
Southern Gospel
(2021)
Pearl
(2022)
She Came from the Woods
(2023)

Development

edit

When the production of X being interrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, West developed the script to Pearl and sent the complete draft to Bates, which he liked it and eventually expressed his involvement on scoring the film.[1][2] By the time Bates finished the score for X, A24 told West and the other crew members that they planned to release two films within a short span of time, which meant that the score had to be written, composed and produced within two months.[3]

Bates then told West about roping his orchestrator Timothy Williams as a co-composer, so that he could deliver the score on time.[4] Greg Prechel composed additional music and arranged instruments.[5] Both of them immediately worked on the film's score after the March 2022 SXSW Film Festival.[6][7]

Bates and Williams shared a liking of film scores from the classical Hollywood cinema mostly from Bernard Herrmann, John Barry, Henry Mancini, Ennio Morricone and Maurice Jarre.[8][3] In contrast to X, the duo wanted to produce a stylistically classical approach from that period, so that people could conceive it as a classic film over a slasher-horror film.[8]

Reception

edit

A. O. Scott of The New York Times described it as "frenzied and portentous".[9] RogerEbert.com called it as a "gorgeous wall-to-wall score [...] that kicks off with a sumptuous main theme".[10] Joshua Rothkopf of Entertainment Weekly called it as a "churning wall-to-wall orchestral score" that was "intentionally emotive".[11] David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter wrote "the big surging sounds of Tyler Bates and Tim Williams’ old-school orchestral score signal high drama and danger from the start."[12] Clarrise Loughrey of The Independent described it as "winningly romantic".[13] Kim Newman of Empire summarized "The almost-continuous orchestral score by Tyler Bates and Timothy Williams is a romantic counterpoint to the onscreen action."[14] Shakyl Lambert of CGMagazine wrote "the score feels ripped straight out of an epic before dropping the pretense to something way more creepy."[15]

Track listing

edit
No.TitleLength
1."Pearl Main Titles"2:22
2."One Day"3:15
3."Go Fetch Your Father"3:24
4."Ride Home"2:31
5."Dancing with Scarecrows"2:28
6."Papa"2:40
7."Bless Us, Oh Lord"3:12
8."The Projectionist"3:05
9."The Arts in Europe"2:27
10."Alligator Egg"2:07
11."The Whole World Is Gonna Know My Name"3:17
12."What About Your Dog?"3:37
13."The Red Dress"2:12
14."Hot-House Rag"1:38
15."We're Looking for Something Different"2:17
16."I Should Probably Get Going"2:07
17."A Bicycle and an Axe"1:45
18."The Tableau"2:23
19."I'm So Happy You're Home"2:45
Total length:49:32

Accolades

edit
Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result Ref.
International Film Music Critics Association February 23, 2023 Best Original Score for a Fantasy/Science Fiction/Horror Film Tyler Bates and Tim Williams Nominated [16]
Fangoria Chainsaw Awards May 21, 2023 Best Score Nominated [17]
[18]

References

edit
  1. ^ Crouch, Rachael (May 3, 2022). "Tyler Bates and Chelsea Wolfe on Creating the Dark, Funky X Soundtrack: Interview". Consequence. Archived from the original on December 11, 2022. Retrieved December 11, 2022.
  2. ^ Korpan, Andrew (September 27, 2022). "Tyler Bates & Tim Williams Discuss Their Score for Pearl [Interview]". The Hollywood Handle. Archived from the original on March 23, 2023. Retrieved July 20, 2024.
  3. ^ a b Venutti, Isabella (March 7, 2023). "Gear Talks: Tyler Bates, composer behind Pearl, X and John Wick". Mixdown Magazine. Archived from the original on March 23, 2023. Retrieved May 16, 2024.
  4. ^ Venutti, Isabella (March 7, 2023). "Gear Talks: Tyler Bates, composer behind Pearl, X and John Wick". Mixdown Magazine. Archived from the original on March 23, 2023. Retrieved May 16, 2024.
  5. ^ Bender, Brittney (August 22, 2022). "'Pearl' Composer Tyler Bates On Horror Scores & More: Interview". Bleeding Cool. Archived from the original on September 4, 2022. Retrieved July 20, 2024.
  6. ^ Yamato, Jen (March 14, 2022). "Inside Ti West and Mia Goth's already filmed secret prequel to A24 slasher 'X'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 16, 2022. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
  7. ^ Kohn, Eric (March 14, 2022). "Ti West Shot a Secret Horror Prequel to A24 Slasher Movie 'X' with Mia Goth, Reveals Plans for a Trilogy". IndieWire. Archived from the original on March 15, 2022. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
  8. ^ a b Cavanaugh, Patrick (August 8, 2022). "Musician Tyler Bates Talks Composing for Primal, Day Shift, Pearl, and More". Comicbook.com. Archived from the original on August 16, 2022. Retrieved July 20, 2024.
  9. ^ Scott, A. O. (September 15, 2022). "'Pearl' Review: A Farmer's Daughter Moves Up the Food Chain". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on September 21, 2022. Retrieved July 20, 2024.
  10. ^ Allen, Nick (September 15, 2022). "Pearl movie review & film summary (2022)". RogerEbert.com. Archived from the original on September 21, 2022. Retrieved July 20, 2024.
  11. ^ Rothkopf, Joshua (September 15, 2022). "Pearl review: Mia Goth melts down as a serial killer in the making". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on December 24, 2022. Retrieved July 20, 2024.
  12. ^ Rooney, David (September 3, 2022). "'Pearl' Review: Ti West and Mia Goth's 'X' Prequel Delivers More Technicolor Camp Than Horror". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on October 4, 2022. Retrieved July 20, 2024.
  13. ^ Loughrey, Clarisse (March 16, 2023). "Pearl review: Mia Goth in a horror prequel that marks the birth of a new horror icon". The Independent. Archived from the original on December 22, 2023. Retrieved July 20, 2024.
  14. ^ Newman, Kim (March 16, 2023). "Pearl". Empire. Archived from the original on June 29, 2023. Retrieved July 20, 2024.
  15. ^ Lambert, Shakyl (September 13, 2022). "Pearl Review – TIFF 2022". CGMagazine. Archived from the original on September 14, 2022. Retrieved July 20, 2024.
  16. ^ IFMCA (February 23, 2023). "IFMCA Award Winners 2022". IFMCA. IFMCA. Archived from the original on March 17, 2023. Retrieved March 24, 2024.
  17. ^ Melanson, Angel (January 27, 2023). "2023 FANGORIA Chainsaw Award Nominees". Fangoria. Archived from the original on July 7, 2023. Retrieved March 13, 2023.
  18. ^ "2023 FANGORIA Chainsaw Award Winners". Fangoria. May 21, 2023. Archived from the original on October 1, 2023. Retrieved May 21, 2023.