New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Lakeshore Records will release the CAMP X-RAY - Original Motion Picture
Soundtrack digitally on October 14th and on CD November 11, 2014. The album features original music by Jess Stroup (HOTLINE, CARDBOARD BOXER).
"When director
Peter Sattler approached me about creating the score for his Guantanamo Bay drama, CAMP X-RAY, he knew exactly what he wanted: a minimal score using electronic sounds. He encouraged me to look for unusual electronic sounds, sounds that he would hear and have no idea what they were or how they were made.
Sounds that maybe felt a little cold or lonely, to emphasize the loneliness and unreality of prison life." said Stroup. "Having been an obscure ambient electronic music artist myself, I was excited to return to this world of synthetic sound and see what I could come up with that would fit." Stroup read the script and began brainstorming. Of the pieces he created, three would become recurring themes in the film's score.
Jess Stroup is a Los Angeles-based composer and multi-instrumentalist known for his unique musical voice and contemporary sound choices. Recently recognized on Indiewire's 2014 list of film composers to watch, his imaginative electronic and guitar-based scores have provided the backdrop for indie films, television and commercials.
Growing up in a musical family in North Carolina, Jess Stroup studied piano, classical guitar, and double bass, and has since learned to play the banjo, mandolin, Turkish saz, dobro, and musical saw. He became interested in electronic music and synthesis while pursuing a degree in music technology at New York University, and released two albums of electronic music under the alias Reed Rothchild. Prior to his feature film work, Jess established himself as a go-to collaborator, arranger and score producer for top composers around Los Angeles, contributing arrangements, production, and session work to blockbusters such as HORRIBLE BOSSES, WALK OF SHAME, and IDENTITY THIEF, and TV shows on SyFy, ABC, TNT, and more. His music can also be heard in commercials for Target, Chrysler, and Hewlett-Packard, as well as trailers for movies such as Tyler Perry's SINGLE MOM'S CLUB.
2013 was a pivatol year for Stroup, with him scoring his first feature, CAMP X-RAY, and his first documentary, HOTLINE (Gravitas Films), featuring Miss Cleo. He is currently finishing his second feature film score, CARDBOARD BOXER, starring
Thomas Haden Church, Macy Gray, and Terrence Howard.
"At the heart of CAMP X-RAY is a story about a relationship between a guard and a detainee in Guantanamo Bay, a story about human connection," explained Stroup. "So the music needed to give us room to think about that, without judging what the action of the detainees might have been, or judging the United States government's role in imprisoning them."
A young woman (Kristen Stewart) joins the military to be part of something bigger than herself and her small town roots. But she ends up as a new guard at Guantanamo Bay instead, where her mission is far from black and white. Surrounded by hostile jihadists and aggressive squadmates, she strikes up an unusual friendship with one of the detainees. A story of two people, on opposite sides of a war, struggling to find their way through the ethical quagmire of Guantanamo Bay. And in the process, they form an unlikely bond that changes them both.
Stroup described, "The most challenging part about scoring CAMP X-RAY was to avoid leading the viewer too much emotionally, or to let the score influence the viewer's opinion of the film's characters. Since it is set in Guantanamo Bay, the story takes place in a world of conflict, and the detainment of the prisoners is very controversial. One thing we never wanted to do was allow the score to make the mood too sad or obvious in what the viewer should feel."
IFC Films presents CAMP X-RAY in theaters on October 17. The CAMP X-RAY - Original Motion Picture
Soundtrack will be available digitally on October 14th and on CD November 11, 2014.
