R: Clear vision and intension from the director is important for a good collaboration, this can manifest in many forms. The myriad vocabulary around music is often vague and personal but can be understood as long as there is a clear idea. It is then up to me to respond to that. Sometimes I create a sketch that connects at an early stage, but other ideas take longer to reveal themselves. Really good collaborators I’ve worked with are able to latch onto a thread within a bigger idea, it could be a second or two, seemingly just a fleeting sound, but it starts a conversation which adds context and colour to the story you’re both trying to tell, momentum gathers and all of a sudden you are in the sound world of the film. It’s exciting when that happens.
AM: Following the incredible reception of The Substance, I’d love to know more about your collaboration with Coralie Fargeat. Talk to us more about scoring the unnerving tension in this body horror film.
R: When I saw The Substance for the first time I loved it so much. I felt the passion and intensity, it was powerful and moving, I could feel the rage screaming out of the screen. The execution of the whole film was mesmerising.
Coralie is an amazing collaborator. From our first conversation I felt like I understood very quickly what she wanted the score to achieve. We discussed the Faustian pact, the character’s emotional experience, what it is to feel youthful, vulnerable, rejected, forgotten, left behind, the violence of the characters internal voice, and the deep emotions that accompany these things.
THE SUBSTANCE - Official Trailer
Two key parts of the score emerged from my first ideas, ‘The Substance Sound’ which can be heard at the start of the title track ‘The Substance’ on the OST, and the very minimal, techno-leaning idea that you can hear in the same track. Coralie responded to those ideas and they underpinned a lot of the score and were expanded into other ideas. ‘The Substance Sound’ seemed to capture the seduction, the threat and the otherworldliness of The Substance.