Life and Breath: Jerskin Fendrix on Composing the Score for Yorgos Lanthimos's New Film, Poor Things
Jerskin Fendrix
A postmodern take on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Yorgos Lanthimos's new film, Poor Things, sees the director exploring ideas of life and liberty in his uniquely surrealist way.
The movie revolves around Bella, played by Emma Stone, a woman in Victorian Britain brought back to life by Dr. Godwin Baxter, played by Willem Dafoe. Eager to learn more about the world around her, Bella sets off on a fantastical, globe-hopping adventure.
That theme of reanimation was central to composer Jerskin Fendrix while developing the film's score. Although he's primarily known as a singer, pianist, and songwriter active in South London's indie music scene, Fendrix's ability to merge his classical training with experimental approaches to music-making was a perfect fit for the world of Poor Things.
To match the imaginative tone of Lanthimos's film, Jerskin spent time digitally processing and manipulating the voice of each instrument, ultimately transforming even the most familiar musical sounds into an unfamiliar, almost eerie listening experience.
"I was really interested in wind instruments and breath as a musical idea," Jerskin explains on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "Breath and life are inextricably tied up, so giving the impression of something which isn't sentient or alive replicating anything that is alive sets off a really primal, fear-based instinct, something which is preternaturally horrifying."
In this episode, Fendrix and I talk more about the creative process behind his Poor Things score. Plus, he shares a piece of writing advice from Kurt Vonnegut that helps him focus his work, the importance of emotional resonance in his music, and the street food scene he craves whenever he's in New York City.
Poor Things and the film's official soundtrack will be released on December 8, 2023. The first two singles, "Bella" and "Lisbon," are available wherever you stream music.
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