Canadian film and television composer Mark Korven has soundtracked the new Robert Eggers-directed horror film The Lighthouse. Today, the track “Curse Your Name/Dirty Weather” has been made available for streaming. The Lighthouse stars Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson as two lighthouse keepers on a mysterious New England island in the 1890s. The film won the Critics Prize at the Cannes Film Festival this year and will premiere in theaters Friday, October 18th (NY/LA) with expansion to follow.
The Korven-composed soundtrack to the film is also due out on the 18th via Milan Records/Sony Masterworks. Additionally, Sacred Bones will be releasing the vinyl edition with color copies housed in a deluxe die-cut sleeve that allows light to be shined through a cut-out of the lighthouse beam. The inner-sleeve will also feature randomly distributed die-cuts of Dafoe and Pattinson’s film characters.
The Lighthouse follows-up on Korven’s soundtrack for Eggers’ directorial debut, The Witch. Describing their work together on the new film, Korven explains:
“Robert [Eggers] and I were rather like the two wickies that went insane in The Lighthouse, musically speaking. We traveled to some very dark harmonic and textural places. We both enjoy not just breaking the rules, but blowing them to smithereens. The spirit of experimentation was always present.”
Korven’s search for a sound that was unique to his compositions led him to develop an instrument he calls The Apprehension Engine. The strange, multi-acoustic device was commissioned to be built by famed guitar-maker Tony Duggan-Smith. Capable of emitting horrifying sounds by bowing, plucking, and striking various components on the instrument, in 2017 it was profiled as part of CNN’s Great Big Stories series. On “Curse Your Name/Dirty Weather,” the composer creates a spell-binding ambiance filled with dread and apprehension.
