HBO’s “Lovecraft Country” is believed to be the first-ever series scored from start to finish by musicians recording remotely from their homes.
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The new series, which debuted on Sunday night, follows the adventures of Atticus Freeman (Jonathan Majors), his friend Letitia Lewis (Jurnee Smollett) and his Uncle George (Courtney B. Vance) as they travel across 1950’s Jim Crow America in search of Atticus’ missing father (Michael K. Williams).
What starts off as a haunting look at the terrors of racism of white America slowly becomes more twisted when the three heroes are being hunted by terrifying monsters that could be taken straight from an H.P. Lovecraft novel.
Composer Laura Karpman and her musical partner Raphael Saadiq scored the 10-part series using 30 musicians, all playing solo in their home studios.
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The group of musicians hailed from all over the world, including players from the Metropolitan Opera, New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony and the Toronto Symphony.
“We did all these Zoom tutorials with people,” explained Karpman, revealing how she schooled the musicians on how to work the recording equipment in an interview Variety.
After the music was individually recorded, the sounds were then mixed into an artificial orchestra.
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“What came back sounded to me like Jerry Goldsmith, that close-mic’d aleatoric music of the 1960s,” said Karpman, referring to the film composer who created music for films such as “Planet of the Apes” and “Alien”.
“It was wildly appropriate,” she added.
Produced by Jordan Peele and J.J. Abrams, “Lovecraft Country” is created and written by Misha Green and is on HBO now.
