John Medeski and Daniel Lopatin Detail Soundtrack Album for Nathan Fielder’s The Curse

John Medeski has announced The Curse (Music From the Showtime Original Series), which is out November 17 via Milan Records. The 52-song soundtrack to the new show from Benny Safdie and Nathan Fielder, which co-stars Fielder and Emma Stone, was executive produced by regular Safdie collaborator Daniel Lopatin (aka Oneohtrix Point Never). The new release features the opening track and lead single “Fake Tears.” Give it a listen below.

Lopatin was asked by Safdie to find someone to score the show who could do it in the spirit of Alice Coltrane’s Turiya Sings. “There was a very short list of composers I felt were akin, or could carry on some level, Alice’s skill and soulfulness with them into their own score,” Lopatin said in a statement. “John was one of them. John breathes presence into music. His ability to improvise and speak through his instrument, and specifically the organ—is part of his greatness. His transcendent understanding of spacious, open music, combined with a virtuosic attack of the keyboard in the fields of jazz and blues, not to mention his twisted sense of humor, felt exactly right for the series.”

John Medeski added:

There was this idea that the music of Alice’s—this spiritual music—has a quality that’s neither happy nor sad. It’s both. It’s deep, contemplative music. Instead of the music defining what’s happening, it’s opening up possibilities. I love that because that’s what music is for me. It’s a language that expresses something between idea and emotion that only music can express. The music is almost like another dimension or another perspective. A lot of films are designed to make you feel something about what’s going on in the scene, to represent the scene, to create the emotional impact of the scene. And Nathan and Benny wanted the series to be very dialogue driven and story driven, and to have the music actually be like another observer providing a perspective. They didn’t want any music to be too obvious. Sometimes the music is misleading to what’s going on in the scene even, and I loved that. The music has this other dimension that provides atmosphere. It isn’t just programmatic, it’s another character.