Pearl Before Goth

September 15, 2022

A24 Music Releases “Pearl Main Titles” From PEARL – Music by Tyler Bates & Timothy Williams

Today, A24 Music released the single “Pearl Main Titles” from the PEARL Original Motion Picture Soundtrack with music by Tyler Bates & Timothy Williams. The full 19-track album will be available September 23 on major digital platforms.

With only six weeks to assemble a 68-person orchestra, Bates brought in frequent collaborator Timothy Williams, who worked with the composer on Guardians of the Galaxy, to help him audition musicians, build the orchestra, rehearse over four days in Nashville, and record the score. “In the style of mid-century melodramas,” said director Ti West, “Tyler Bates fashioned a sweeping, shrieking, strings-based score that lets the viewer know from the opening credits that PEARL will not be a subdued or quiet film. I said to him, ‘let’s do a romantic, melodramatic, old-school score for this movie.’”

He continues, “This wasn’t the first time I’ve used live instruments on a movie—but it was the first time I had a full orchestra. It was awesome. Tyler and Tim really hit it out of the park. The score is very much one of the film’s central characters, and that was important.”

“Ti expressed the musical approach to this film with us before filming,” said the composers. “We knew that the music would be based in an “Old Hollywood” approach, which stylistically is something we both love to do. This was a rare opportunity to write a lyrical score where the main theme permeates the music throughout the myriad emotional and psychological dynamics from beginning to end.”

ABOUT THE FILM: PEARL is the story of how Pearl became the vicious killer seen in “X”. In PEARL, filmmaker Ti West returns with another chapter from the twisted world of X, in this astonishing follow-up to the year’s most acclaimed horror film. Trapped on her family’s isolated farm, Pearl must tend to her ailing father under the bitter and overbearing watch of her devout mother. Lusting for a glamorous life like she’s seen in the movies, Pearl finds her ambitions, temptations, and repressions all colliding in this stunning, technicolor-inspired origin story of X’s iconic villain. PEARL had its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival, followed by its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

In a teaser that debuted at the end of the TIFF screening earlier this week, it was revealed that A24 has greenlit “MaXXXine,” the third film of the X horror franchise. “MaXXXine” is written and directed by Ti West with Mia Goth reprising one of her two roles in X.

Pearl will open widely in theaters across the US tomorrow, September 16.

Watch the PEARL trailer in our previous news story, here.

Listen to “Pearl Main Titles” at these links.

Book One
Book 1 Cover

This website was created partly to promote the book series, Musique Fantastique [Second Edition] 100+ Years of Fantasy, Science Fiction & Horror Film Music by Randall D. Larson, but more importantly is intended to be a resource for news, views, & interviews about music for science fiction, fantasy, and horror films. As an extension of the books, it provides additional material and links to further resources about this unique genre of film and television scoring. For news on the book series, scroll down toward the bottom of the home page.

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Frontispiece artwork by Allen Koszowski from Musique Fantastique 1st Edition, Scarecrow Press, 1985.