ForcomposerBryce Dessner, working on a film likeSing Singwas all about defying expectations in the score.
It keeps this kind of distance and a sense of horizon about it.
And that influenced the music for me.
Colman Domingo and Clarence Maclin in ‘Sing Sing’A24/Courtesy Everett Collection
DEADLINE: Knowing that you wanted to avoid that stereotypical prison score, how did you start your process?
Its like the play within the play or it has this kind of Shakespearean feeling about it.
When I first saw this, it felt like an opera.
SING SING, from left: Paul Raci, Sean San Jose, Colman Domingo, Sean Johnson, Mosi EagleA24/Courtesy Everett Collection
Its set in a prison yard.
It just didnt want to.
Yes, the solo cello appears several times, but not specifically to any one character.
The solo woodwinds, the solo saxophone is against this kind of ensemble of strings and brass…
It was that sense of landscape.
Its like, how do you let the light in?
That space is where the music lives essentially.
