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Waxwork Records stabs into deluxe vinyl soundtrack set for Jordan Peele's Us
The doppelganger delirium of Jordan Peele's horror classic Us generated chills galore for anxious audiences teetering on the edge of their seats and crushing popcorn boxes between their knees. Much of the heightened tensions and jarring jump scares were induced by the magnificent musical score by Michael Abels, who also wrote the unsettling music for Peele's Get Out.
Now New Orleans-based Waxwork Records is celebrating this disturbing aural addiction by offering up a premium 2-disc vinyl release on Aug. 23 at 11:00 AM CST, injected with the hypnotic notes of an innovative composer's chilling Us soundtrack — and SYFY WIRE has an exclusive preview to please your platter.
Sharpen up your scissors and slice into the hidden features of Waxwork's sensational sonic package presenting the original motion picture soundtrack to Abels' complete Us score. This sharp vinyl release is Waxwork's third collaboration with its close partners at Monkeypaw Productions and Back Lot Music that originated with 2017's Get Out, then followed up with 2018's BlacKkKlansman.
"We feel that what Peele is creating is relevant and important," Waxwork co-founder Kevin Bergeron tells SYFY WIRE. "There's so much content out there to choose from, but with movies like Get Out and Us, we're lucky to have an imaginative creator like Peele standing tall above the rest."
Waxwork's deluxe double LP features 180-gram "Metallic Brass Scissors”-colored vinyl for disc one, and “Tethered Red Jumpsuit”-colored vinyl for disc two. The alarming album artwork was crafted by illustrator Edward Kinsella.
Interactive packaging includes die-cut inner gatefold jackets that require fans to use scissors to carefully cut through family-member portraits to reveal their tethered doppelgängers lurking in the shadows on the printed inner sleeve. More bonus material includes a die-cut mirror board back cover, a heavyweight 11” x 11” art print, and an exclusive exploratory essay by UCLA professor and activist Shana L. Redmond, Ph.D.
Also included on the soundtrack is the 1995 hip-hop tune “I Got 5 On It” by Luniz and the spotlight track “I Like That” by Janelle Monáe. Additionally, Abels aided in a fresh arrangement of the Luniz hit, which is showcased on the soundtrack as the "Tethered Mix From Us."
"Sonically, what defines ‘scary’ is the unfamiliar,” Abels says in the official announcement. “It is the things that we can’t place, and that we don’t expect, that take us to that place of fear. We wanted to really strike terror into the audience.
“Jordan really loves the sounds of voices, and the human voice is an incredibly expressive instrument that anyone can relate to,” Abels explains, relating to the score's signature choral elements. “The anthem sounds a little like a march of people preparing for battle, like an uprising maybe, but the sounds are not in a recognizable language. In other parts of the film there are vocal effects, just these strange sounds. They’re designed to really freak people out.”
