Pierre-Henri Wicomb - Gaia (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021)

Original score from the 2021 horror feature film directed by Jaco Bouwer, starring Monique Rockman, Carel Nel and Alex van Dyk, produced by Film Initiative Africa and released by Neon/Decal (USA).

THE STORY: An injured forest ranger on a routine mission is saved by two off-the-grid survivalists. What is initially a welcome rescue grows more suspicious as the son and his renegade father reveal a cultish devotion to the forest.

THE SCORE: “This film explores nature as experienced through the stories of four very different characters who all find themselves in an old forest. As we are drawn deeper into it, magical elements are revealed that finally lead to the revelation that something unknown, even divine, is present. A hidden world of connectivity, a mycelium network like the behaviour of electrical currents, is uncovered. At the same time, there is something ceremonial about it. My choice of acoustic instruments had to speak to all of these elements simultaneously. I chose the flute, with its mythology, and the textural possibilities of its tone in combination with breath and the wondrous Tibetan horn, the Dungchen. Both have sound colours that bring the tangibility in the images of the trees, its branches, its bark to life. The rest of the sound pallet drew heavily from an electronic sound world. Slow moving, layered, complex sounds sharing similar textural behaviour to that of the acoustic instruments. Sounds which sometimes mimic the interconnectivity of the tree world, while also resembling the haunting cries of a forgotten prehistoric age.” – Pierre-Henri Wicomb

THE COMPOSER: South African composer Pierre-Henri Wicomb completed a Masters Degree in composition at the University of Cape Town and Post Graduate studies at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and is currently working on his PhD at the Institute for Advanced Studies, Africa Open. Wicomb’s music has been featured at the Festival D’Automne (Paris 2013), New York City Electronic Music Festival (2016, 2018), International Computer Music Conference (Utrecht 2016), Festivalen for Svensk Konstmusik (Stockholm 2019), Forum Wallis (Leuk, Switzerland 2013, 2014), Wilde Bloesem series (Amsterdam 2006), Infecting the City and Unyazi Festivals (Cape Town) to name a few.



Tracklist:
01. Pierre-Henri Wicomb - Gaia (03:12)
02. Pierre-Henri Wicomb - Lives Separated (03:34)
03. Pierre-Henri Wicomb - Hunter Gatherers (02:13)
04. Pierre-Henri Wicomb - Mushroom Apostles (03:32)
05. Pierre-Henri Wicomb - Mycelium Malice (01:46)
06. Pierre-Henri Wicomb - We Cannot Stay (03:50)
07. Pierre-Henri Wicomb - His God (02:59)
08. Pierre-Henri Wicomb - I Made Room (01:51)
09. Pierre-Henri Wicomb - Stop Knowing (03:40)
10. Pierre-Henri Wicomb - Mind Peripheries (05:45)
11. Pierre-Henri Wicomb - The Offering (03:01)
12. Pierre-Henri Wicomb - You Need to Leave Me Here (02:24)
13. Pierre-Henri Wicomb - This Was Always a Test (03:42)
14. Pierre-Henri Wicomb - A City Helpless (01:29)
15. Pierre-Henri Wicomb - Summer as Spring (02:35)
16. Pierre-Henri Wicomb - This Is Your God (03:30)