Where the Crawdads Sing (soundtrack)

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Where the Crawdads Sing (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Mychael Danna - Where the Crawdads Sing.png
Film score by
Mychael Danna
ReleasedJuly 15, 2022 (2022-07-15)
Recorded2021–2022
Genre Film score
Length43:53
Label Mercury Classics
Producer
Mychael Danna chronology
Return to Space
(2022)		Where the Crawdads Sing
(2022)		 My Father's Dragon
(2022)

Where the Crawdads Sing (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack to the 2022 film of the same name released on July 15, 2022 by Mercury Classics. [1] It features the original score composed by Canadian composer Mychael Danna, and an original song "Carolina" written and performed by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. According to Danna, the score's "unique instrumentation creates haunting melodies that are directly inspired by the North Carolina marshlands, and meticulously crafted to foster an almost fable-like sense of time and place". [2]

Contents

Development

The original score is composed by Mychael Danna, who used sea shells and conchs for creating the music, a technique earlier used in ancient times. [3] [4] The musician, Don Chilton, whom Danna previously worked with had collected those shells and played it as a French horn, which Danna shared in his Instagram account. [5] Danna said, "He uses his fist to kind of pitch it and so he can play pretty accurate melodies, which I’ve never seen a shell player do before. Usually, they just blow in it and [they] make a broad noise and that’s kind of all you get. But he does this and it’s just got this primordial, deep, haunting sound to it that." [3] The sound created a "mysterious, deep marsh and ancient sound" which is a "setting of life and death and endless cycle". [4]

"I think I used shells a couple of times but in more specific world settings. I think in India, they play the shell in a certain way. And it has certain religious significance as well in Hebrew culture in Israel. There’s also, very famously, another shell that’s played and again, it’s got cultural and religious significance, so those were played in the scores that I used them [and] where I played them how they’re supposed to be played in those cultures, which is not the way we did it here."

—  Mychael Danna, on the use of shells as instruments in Where the Crawdads Sing.

Much of the film is set in North Carolina, which led Danna to create a "sonic soundscape" for the film. Excluding the shell sounds, he had used Americana folk-based music with the local musicians, which use, banjo, fiddle and autoharp, and an orchestral music. [2] [3] The film had "sonic textures" that are "natural, acoustic sounds but they sometimes sound electronic". These sounds were manipulated to get the "swamp sound, which is dark, mysterious, and intimidating". [3] These manipulated sounds are literally like "a double bass being played in an unusual way, like playing up above the fretboard or below the bridge and then slowing it down and so on like that. Those dark tones are a little hard to identify what they are, but they just sound kind of organic, but also a little frightening, mysterious, and dark." [3]

Release

The soundtrack featured an original song, "Carolina" written and performed by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. The song was used as snippets in the promotional trailers for the film, [6] and was released as a single on June 24, 2022 by Republic Records. [7] [8] It was written for nearly one-and-a-half years, even before the film entered production, whereas much of the score has been recorded during post-production. [9] Swift said that she "got absolutely lost in [the book] when [she] read it years ago" and "wanted to create something haunting and ethereal" for the film when she heard it was being produced. [10] The song is played in the ending credits of the film. [7]

A snippet of the track "Am I Your Girlfriend Now?" was released through Deadline Hollywood on July 14, 2022, [2] and the full soundtrack was released along with the film, the following day. [11] It was released by Mercury Classics through its revamped label for releasing film scores and soundtracks, under the name Mercury Classics Soundtrack & Score, operated by Decca Records and Verve Label Group. [12] [13] The label also released the soundtracks for Crimes of the Future and Rogue Agent. [12]

Track listing

All music is composed by Mychael Danna except where noted

No.TitleWriter(s)ProducerLength
1."Carolina" Taylor Swift
2:54
2."Out Yonder Where The Crawdads Sing"  2:34
3."A Swamp Knows All About Death"  2:55
4."They Called Me Kya"  1:28
5."The Marsh Girl"  1:09
6."Mussels For Jumpin’"  1:55
7."A Feather From Tate"  2:07
8."Am I Your Girlfriend Now?"  2:12
9."Snow Geese"  2:18
10."Another Season Passed"  0:47
11."You’re Never Going To Come Back"  1:14
12."The Fourth Of July"  1:52
13."View From The Fire Tower"  1:05
14."Clothes From Miss Mabel"  1:39
15."Chase Andrews"  1:37
16."Red Wool Fibers"  1:24
17."I Just Wanna Talk"  1:34
18."With Royalties To Follow"  0:56
19."We The Jury"  2:15
20."It Was Always Tate"  2:41
21."I Am Every Shell Wasted Upon The Shore"  4:32
22."Teach You To Read"  2:44

Reception

The score received generally positive reviews. Jonathan Broxton of Movie Music UK wrote, "the lack of strong thematic content beyond the main theme for Kya may result in some people dismissing it out of hand as being nothing but texture. Furthermore, an affinity for prominent country textures led by fiddles and banjos is also a requirement because the score is awash in them from start to finish. It may be that the score just happened to catch me in with the right mood, but whatever the case may be, Where the Crawdads Sing hit me right in the sweet spot, providing a slightly melancholy but wholly beautiful evocation of a unique place, and a unique girl at the center of a very traumatic story." [14]

Accolades

AwardDate of ceremonyCategoryRecipient(s)ResultRef.
Hollywood Music in Media Awards November 16, 2022 Best Original Score in a Feature Film Mychael Danna Nominated [15]
Best Original Song in a Feature Film Taylor Swift ("Carolina")Nominated
Grammy Awards February 5, 2023 Best Song Written for Visual Media Nominated [16]
[17]

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References

  1. ↑ "Inside The 'Where the Crawdads Sing' Soundtrack". Capital FM. Archived from the original on August 16, 2022. Retrieved August 16, 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 Grobar, Matt (July 14, 2022). "Composer Mychael Danna Channels Sounds Of The North Carolina Marsh With Score To 'Where The Crawdads Sing' – Hear An Exclusive Track". Deadline. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Andrew Korpan (September 1, 2022). "Oscar-Winning Composer Mychael Danna Talks Creating a Sound Reminiscent of the North Carolina Marshes". Coastal House Media. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  4. 1 2 Licuria, Rob (November 13, 2022). "Mychael Danna ('Where the Crawdads Sing' composer) on how he adapted 'primordial and ancient' sounds from the natural world [Exclusive Video Interview]". GoldDerby. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  5. ↑ "Mychael Danna on Instagram: "had a few people ask "what is that cool woodwind in Crawdads?"... well it's not wood, it's various Sea Shells and Conches played by the brilliant @don.chilton ... here's a video showing him playing "A Feather From Tate". as soon as @livinewman showed me an early cut of her film, with all the beautiful depictions of shells in Kya's artwork and her collection, i knew immediatly [sic] that the score had to be centered in the sound of shells. Don is an incredible virtuoso of this ancient so-simple-it's- difficult instrument... #WhereTheCrawdadsSIng"". www.instagram.com. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  6. ↑ Rearick, Lauren (March 22, 2022). "Taylor Swift Debuts New Song 'Carolina' In 'Where the Crawdads Sing' Trailer". Teen Vogue . Archived from the original on June 24, 2022. Retrieved June 23, 2022.
  7. 1 2 Willman, Chris (June 23, 2022). "Taylor Swift to Release 'Carolina,' Theme Song for 'Where the Crawdads Sing' Film, Tonight". Variety . Archived from the original on June 24, 2022. Retrieved June 23, 2022.
  8. ↑ Corcoran, Nina (June 24, 2022). "Listen to Taylor Swift's New Song "Carolina"". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on June 24, 2022. Retrieved June 24, 2022.
  9. ↑ Dailey, Hannah (June 24, 2022). "Taylor Swift Explains the Story Behind Her New Song 'Carolina' – And Why It's Taken So Long to Come Out". Billboard. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
  10. ↑ Kenneally, Cerys (March 17, 2022). "Hear another snippet of Taylor Swift's 'Carolina' song in the latest Where The Crawdads Sing trailer". The Line of Best Fit . Archived from the original on June 24, 2022. Retrieved June 23, 2022.
  11. ↑ Sexton, Paul (July 15, 2022). "Mychael Danna's Emotive 'Where The Crawdads Sing' Soundtrack Out Now". uDiscover Music. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  12. 1 2 "DECCA RECORDS, VERVE LABEL GROUP AND GLOBE SOUNDTRACK & SCORE ANNOUNCE THE LAUNCH OF MERCURY CLASSICS SOUNDTRACK & SCORE". UMG. October 14, 2022. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  13. ↑ "Mercury Classics Soundtrack & Score launches as boutique label for film and TV". Musicweek. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  14. ↑ "WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING – Mychael Danna". MOVIE MUSIC UK. July 19, 2022. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  15. ↑ Anderson, Erik (November 3, 2022). "Black Panther, Bros, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio lead Hollywood Music in Media Awards (HMMA) nominations". AwardsWatch. Archived from the original on November 4, 2022. Retrieved November 7, 2022.
  16. ↑ "2023 GRAMMY Nominations: See The Complete Nominees List". GRAMMYs. November 15, 2022. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
  17. ↑ Willman, Chris (November 15, 2022). "Grammy Awards Nominations 2023: The Complete List, Led by Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, Adele, Brandi Carlile". Variety . Archived from the original on November 15, 2022. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
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