I liked Fol Chen's album “The False Alarms,” released last year. The band has a real sense of sequence, tempo and placement. They don't beat a chorus to death. (And “A Tourist Town” freaking rules.)
All things that also help to make a good score and soundtrack. Julian Wass knows this. Maybe that's why the Fol Chen band member has already helmed a number of film sounds, his hands full with three scores in just a few scant months this summer.
“The Pretty One” is the latest movie of these, with the film out on VOD tomorrow (June 3); Jenée LaMarque, Wass' wife, directed. For the film, Wass put together a cover of “It Might Be You,” the theme from 1982's “Tootsie,” an enchanting electronic re-imagining with singer Karryn on the mic.
Speaking on the music for “The Pretty One,” Wass said, “Around the same time as we started envisioning the score, Jenée and I showed 'Cinderella' to our then 3 year old daughter for the first time. The song, 'A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes' embodies Cinderella”s character and spirit… I felt that Cinderella and the [lead] character of Laurel had some interesting parallels, so I studied that chord change and melody and used it as inspiration for one of the main themes for the 'The Pretty One.'”
Wass also composed for Tribeca Films' “The Big Ask” with Gillian Jacobs, “Lost for Life” due this summer, the Duplass Brothers' “Do-Deca Pentathalon,” Patrick Brice”s forthcoming “The Overnight” and more.
Stream Julian Wass and Karryn's “It Might Be You” below.