Exclusive Interview: Composer Corey Wallace Discusses the Upcoming Release of his ARTIK Score
I’d describe Artik as a brutal, primal score. It’s not shy. It hits hard and often, and I think it has a unique sense of ferocity. There is a notable absence of melody and harmony, and instead focuses on very raw gestures. It’s a dirty score with lots of jagged edges. Even silence is used aggressively, as music and sound, at times, starkly cuts out without notice for dramatic
effect.
Exclusive Interview - Artik composer Corey Wallace on creating the film's unconventional score
We didn’t set out to make themes, in fact, quite the opposite. The idea was to create a sort of anti-score, using sounds and textures that aren’t typically used and use them in atypical ways. When a band or orchestra gets ready to play, the first thing they do is tune their instruments. When we were sampling guitar and cello sounds, the first thing we did was de-tune them.
Behind the Music: Composer Corey Wallace Talks About the Recently Released Score for Artik
Horror films are very human stories when you boil them down. They’re primal and connect with raw, gut feelings and emotions.
I think the key is tapping into those emotions and expressing them musically so the audience can feel them. I love how horror film music has the power to stir up deep down fears and bring them up to the surface.
Composer Corey Wallace Discusses His Recent Artik Score Release
To capture a specific, broken, ugly sound, we had to play a lot of the instruments ourselves.
Over the years, I’ve collected a variety of inexpensive instruments that I don’t know how to play very well, and don’t maintain well or keep in tune, such as a guitar, banjo, mandolin, a child-sized violin, and various drums, all of which were used on Artik.
