This fall, director Max Walker-Silverman is following up his 2022 debut feature film, the Sundance hit A Love Song, with another Sundance selection, Rebuilding. The film stars Emmy- and Golden-Globe-winner Josh O'Connor (young Prince Charles on The Crown) as a divorced cowboy in a FEMA camp in southern Colorado after losing his ranch in a wildfire, alongside Lily LaTorre, Meghann Fahy, Kali Reis, and Amy Madigan. For the original score, Walker-Silverman has called in some of the greatest talents on the modern folk scene.
Jake Xerxes Fussell and James Elkington have worked together fruitfully before, with Elkington producing Fussell's last two albums; we spoke to the traditional folk singer-songwriter at length about last year's When I'm Called. They joined forces again to compose the Rebuilding score.
Walker-Silverman says that after producer Dan Janvey turned him on to Fussell's music, "I could hear the cinema in it right away. His music is rooted firmly in all the folkloric traditions I love but not at all nostalgic. And that was much like the film we were making; a story in which the past is all around but firmly of the here and now. And since so much of his music has no lyrics, Jake already understood the challenge of telling a story through instrumentation alone."
Because Fussell was on tour while working on the Rebuilding music, he called in Elkington for an assist. Ultimately, they didn't finish the work until they were able to get together and create while watching the film. "I think Max had a suspicion that we’d be able to improvise a couple of new pieces in the room, while watching the picture, which turned out to be true," Elkington says. "Some of our favorite cues were written that way – in the room while watching the picture." Regarding inspiration for his work with Fussell here, he adds, "Not only are both The Straight Story and Paris, Texas great soundtracks, but the films themselves hold hands with Rebuilding as modern inversions of the western."
The Rebuilding soundtrack is coming out in November on Fat Possum, but two tracks are out today: "Glow In The Dark" and "Contemplating The Moon." Hear them both below.
TRACKLIST:
01 "Prelude"
02 "Mountain Time"
03 "A Cowboy Without Cows"
04 "Glow In The Dark"
05 "The Magic Boots"
06 "Riding To The Ranch"
07 "Callie Rose"
08 "Brother Theo"
09 "Daybreakers"
10 "Rebuilding"
11 "Chilli Roast Waltz"
12 "Contemplating The Moon"
13 "Don't Steal My Heart Away"
14 "Things We Lost"
15 "County Z"
16 "Night Library"
17 "Begin Again"
The Rebuilding original score is out 11/14 on Fat Possum. Pre-order it here. The film hits theaters the same day.
