Producer, songwriter, and creative force Austra (Katie Austra Stelmanis) has added another dimension to her talents as she composes the original score for Canadian documentary feature and docu-series SWAN SONG. 'Swan Song' is Stelmanis’ first film score and sees her taking an entirely different approach to music making. Drawing upon her classical upbringing, the synth-based score was composed using only a Juno-106, a Mellotron, and her voice, providing dissonant textures and complementary melodies that interpolate Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake.
Stream Austra’s 'Swan Song' in full here.
Watch the trailer for the documentary here.
Speaking about her work, Stelmanis shares: “Scoring SWAN SONG has been a dream project. My first-ever experience performing was as a kid singing in the orchestra pit for the National Ballet of Canada's Nutcracker sometime in the '90s, and my love for Tchaikovsky has sustained ever since. For this project, I was influenced by artists like Vangelis and Oneohtrix Point Never to compose a deep, textured, almost entirely electronic score that traverses the spectacular music of 'Swan Lake.'"
The documentary received its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival and its UK premiere at the BFI London Film Festival. The project was developed with CBC, and in addition to the feature documentary, it also includes a four-episode docu-series available to stream now on CBC Gem and broadcasting on CBC TV.
