Watch the 'Uncut Gems' Soundtrack Documentary with Oneohtrix Point Never
Director Josh Safdie and Composer Daniel Lopatin break down the original score.
A24‘s Uncut Gems has already been a massive success, as the Safdie Brothers‘ anxiety-inducing crime thriller has become the highest grossing project from the independent production house to date. After casting Adam Sandler as a New York Diamond District jeweler, Josh and Benny Safdie enlisted composer Daniel Lopatin to handle the score and soundtrack duties. Daniel has operated under the monicker Oneohtrix Point Never since the mid-2000s, creating his experimental take on electronic music. In a new video with Moog Music, he breaks down the intricacies and process of creating the hypnotizing original score alongside Josh Safdie.
“There was a lot of alchemy of just sort of like, ‘okay, the idea is a synthesized brass or the idea is a sort of corny electric piano or something, but that’s not gonna cut it,’” Lopatin told Moog. “It needs to be majestic, it needs to be rich, it needs to be new. You can start initially with an idea that’s sort of derived from someone else’s idea. That’s a perfectly natural place to start. It’s always a good way to go. In fact, I feel like a lot of composing is really about this conversation with the past. You have to do that, you have to experience the past in this surrogate-like way where you embody a sound and you understand it that way. And then that’s a good starting point, but then you’re like, ‘when does this become us?’”
Watch the full documentary above. For more from A24 and Uncut Gems, revisit the latest merchandise release including a limited edition basketball and stream Daniel Lopatin’s Uncut Gems – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack out via Warp Records below.
