Saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, and composer Colin Stetson has soundtracked the upcoming Richard Stanley film Contact. Based upon a short story by H. P. Lovecraft, the movie stars Nicholas Cage alongside Joely Richardson, Madeleine Arthur, Brendan Meyer, Julian Hilliard, and Elliot Knight. Look for Colin Stetson’s Color Out of Space to come out on January 24th via Milan Records/Sony Masterworks, with a vinyl release set for March 10th on Waxwork Records.
Stetson is a multi-instrumentalist known for his work on various saxophones, clarinets, cornet, french horn, and flute. The composer/songwriter has collaborated with artists like Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, Tom Waits, LCD Soundsystem, The National, and more. In recent years he has scored soundtracks for films like Lavender (2016), which he co-scored with Sarah Neufeld, the A24 production Hereditary (2018), and the Hulu series The First (2018). He also contributed to the score for the award-winning game Red Dead Redemption II (2018).
Discussing his work on Contact, Stetson explains:
“The question posed initially when conceiving of this score was what exactly is the sonic representation of a cosmic alien color that does not exist in this terrestrial reality? I began trying to answer that by layering the sounds of coral reefs, processing that cacophony and finding the order revealed through harmonic generation of these hyperdensities, and then continued to chase that same concept of ‘transfiguring the natural’ down every path and application I could see. Turns out it’s somewhere between magenta and hot pink :)”
Below, you can listen to the track “Contact” off the upcoming soundtrack release Color Out of Space. Following that, we have a trailer for the Richard Stanley film starring Nicholas Cage…
