Nowadays, it’s not good enough to have just your run-of-the-mill alien invasion film. “Independence Day” basically blew up that concept, quite literally, decades ago. So, since then, there have been many spins on the alien invasion premise, including in Oscar-nominated films like “District 9” and “Arrival.” Now, filmmaker Rupert Wyatt puts his own mark on the subgenre with “Captive State.”
And when you have a film that aims to be a fresh take on tried-and-true premise, you need a score that is up to the task of being just as inventive. And in honor of “Captive State” hitting theaters later this week, we are proud to present an exclusive track from the film’s score, which is also releasing Friday.
Composed by Rob Simonsen, the track “Soldier Field” is able to give listeners a peek into what they might expect in “Captive State,” just using a haunting, and tense, instrumental. The film follows a Chicago neighborhood that is aiming to overtake the “peaceful” rule of its alien oppressors. And as Simonsen recently told us, he brought that idea of impending doom from above into the music for the film.
“One of the sounds threaded throughout the score is a synth that bends up an octave and back down,” said the composer. “It’s an alarm of sorts, inspired by the tornado sirens I used to hear as a child in southern Missouri. They would fire up all over the city and have this disconcerting, almost sickening sound and would often be heard when the sky was dark and full of twisting clouds, portents of oncoming danger. ‘Soldier Field’ starts out with a variation of one of these synth alarms, albeit a bit more energized and straight forward than heard elsewhere in the score.”
He continued, “It was a wonderful process with Rupert Wyatt during the creation of the score. We used no temp tracks during the edit so it was a quite pure creative process. We pushed to try and keep things experimental.”
“Captive State” hits theaters this Friday, with the soundtrack dropping the same day.
Here’s the synopsis:
Set in a Chicago neighborhood nearly a decade after an occupation by an extra-terrestrial force, Captive State explores the lives on both sides of the conflict – the collaborators and dissidents. Directed by Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Escapist, The Gambler), starring John Goodman, Vera Farmiga, Aston Sanders, and Jonathan Majors.
