CLINT MANSELL
SOUND TRACKS
Thanks to his acclaimed fi lm scores for Darren Aronofsky, Clint Mansell is one of Hollywood’s most sought-after composers. As he prepares for his fi rst UK live tour, he tells Henry Northmore about the journey
G rebo punk becomes the most celebrated i lm composer in recent cinema: it’s an unlikely story, for sure. In the late 80s / early 90s, Clint Mansell was the lead singer of Pop Will Eat Itself, an industrial electro-rock band famed for piling samples onto grinding techno beats and heaving guitar riffs. Early singles ‘Beaver Patrol’ and the call to arms that was ‘Can U Dig It?’ throbbed with energy, and featured Mansell shouting out his venomous satirical raps. It’s a complete contrast to his sweeping, haunting scores that have soundtracked likes of Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan, Moon and The Wrestler.
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PWEI split in 1996, after releasing the record, Dos Dedos Mis Amigos. ‘We ran out of steam,’ explains Mansell in his soft Midlands burr. ‘I was 33 then and just didn’t want to play the same songs over and over again. You start to feel like the oldest swinger in town and it seemed like time for a change.’
Moving to New York, Mansell admits he found himself in a creative slump while working on a proposed solo record. ‘I spent about 18 months there which wasn’t the most fruitful part of my life but then I met [director] Darren Aronofsky through a friend of a friend. He had a script for his i rst i lm, Pi, and he was looking for somebody to write the music.’
Originally commissioned to provide its title track, the trials and tribulations of low-budget i lmmaking eventually worked in Mansell’s favour. ‘He wanted to use a lot of pre-existing electronic music,’ he explains. ‘I wrote a piece on spec from reading the script and talking with Darren about the project; everybody loved it, so that was my in. Then, because the i lm was totally independent and he didn’t have any industry backing, it was very difi cult to get those pieces that he wanted. He didn’t have the money to license them. So every time a piece fell 22 THE LIST 18 Sep–16 Oct 2014
out I had to write something to replace it. He had never worked with a composer before and I’d never scored a i lm before, but through that process we learned the power of a bespoke piece of music written for a scene.’
It was the start of a long and fruitful collaboration, and Mansell has supplied the original music to every single one of Aronofsky’s i lms since. Mansell’s most celebrated piece, the beautiful but ominous ‘Lux Aeterna’ (from Requiem for a Dream), has gone on to have a life of its own, appearing and again in i lm and TV. ‘You have no control over it,’ he says. ‘It’s like having kids: they grow up and do their own thing. You can only watch and hopefully smile.’ again
Now one of the most in-demand composers in Hollywood, Mansell’s music can be heard on myriad movies including Sahara, Doom, Stoker, Smokin’ Aces and Filth among others. For most i lms he usually comes on board during the rough edit but he has a relationship with Aronofsky. ‘I read the script to Noah six or seven years ago so I got involved pretty early.’ special
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Mansell now embarking on his i rst UK live tour. ‘It’s a nine- piece band: string quartet and piano, bass, guitar and drums, and I play keyboards and guitar. It’s a boiled-down version of what I do.’ He’s also enjoying the opportunity to share his music in a gig setting. ‘Being a lead singer, you’re always performing. When you open the fridge, the light comes on: you never lose that ego,’ he laughs. ‘It’s been very cool to i nd a way of doing it that’s, shall we say, age appropriate. I sit down for most of it: it’s in keeping with my 51 years of age.’
Clint Mansell, Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, Tue 14 Oct.