The son of a bass-playing father and a free-spirited accordion-playing mother, composer Jamie Christopherson has had music in his blood from a very early age. From writing evocative orchestral music, recording world instruments on-location in exotic places to programming cutting-edge modern synths, Christopherson has built a reputation for consistently delivering unique, fresh and unexpected scores.

Some of his credits include the theme music to Hulu’s How I Caught My Killer, The Crow: Wicked Prayer, Dirt, American Wrestler: The Wizard, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth series, Lost Planet and Lost Planet 2, Dead Rising and Lineage II: The Chaotic Chronicle.

His latest film, Shudder’s horror/thriller Leave, directed by Alex Herron, tells the story of an abandoned infant that is found in a cemetery in the United States. The child is wrapped in a blanket with satanic symbols. Twenty years later and living as Hunter White, she has become obsessed with finding out why she was abandoned and who her biological parents are. A genetic test, the blanket and symbols lead her to Norway and the terrifying truth.

Because the film takes place in Norway, Christopherson incorporated Norwegian instruments and musicians in the score to make it sound as authentic as possible to the setting. While Christopherson did use modern horror music techniques with warped synthesizers and effects, the base of the score is intimate strings and piano bases.
Let’s hear more about how the Leave score was created below.

What is your process? How do you begin on a project?
Every project is a little bit different since I like to mix things up and go with the creative flow. That said, the majority of my projects have a similar workflow.

First, I meet with the creative leads of a project (director, producers, audio lead if it is a game), and we discuss what we want to accomplish and feel with the music, both in a general sense and then specifically for certain scenes or characters. After that, I go into my cave for a while and just sit with it, playing around with ideas. I often spend a week or two making a unique palette for the project to give it a sound and a vibe.

I love recording live musicians and instruments in interesting ways at the early stages of a project. Then I have a nice little toolbox of colors. This comes in especially handy for horror films.

What about for Leave?
For the film Leave, I was brought in a bit late in post production, so I had to really trust my instincts. The first thing that I worked on was the climax/finale of the film, without any direction really. The director and producers thankfully loved what I did, and then I was off to the races. I did have some preliminary recording sessions and manipulations of audio that really helped give me a nice direction.

What sort of direction were you given from director Alex Herron?
Alex allowed and encouraged me to trust my instincts and experiment with the score.

Did your vision of what you wanted the score to sound like change at all after you began working on the film?
Before I came onto the film, Alex was toying around with some interesting synth textures in the temp score. But the further we got into the scoring of the film, the more it seemed to lend to a more traditional organic/orchestral approach.

In the end, I was able to weave in some cool synth textures here and there where appropriate, and Alex seemed to really dig those elements. I was also adamant about bringing in some authentic Norwegian musicians and textures into the score.

You co-wrote several of the Leave tracks with Harald Nævdal (aka Demonaz). Can you talk about your collaboration? How did you first get connected?
Harald was the music supervisor on the film, and he was on it long before I came on board. He was also the lead singer for a very popular Norwegian black metal band called Immortal, so it was a perfect fit for him to be on the film, with metal being a part of the story itself.

I found out that Harald also had an interest in other music genres, such as jazz and film music, so I was really excited to work with him on a few cues for the film. He composed the moody main theme music for the film with guitars and synths. Then I produced a cinematic version of it, adding live strings and other textures on it. In addition to that, we co-composed a few key sentimental moments in the score together.

Lastly, we were able to get one of his metal albums cleared for sampling use, and I took reversed/warped samples of that and weaved them into parts of the score, where we inferred the “satanic” side of heavy metal (a trope that is played with in the film itself).

How did you make the score sound authentic?
Incorporating Norwegian instruments and musicians on this score helped to make it more authentic and localized. The main character’s journey to Norway has her feeling a bit like a “fish out of water,” so those elements helped as well.

One thing that I had in mind for the climax of the film (without giving too much away) was to get some recordings of a women’s choir singing a beautiful, traditional Norwegian hymn. Then I added some disturbing textures over it.

Helena Maria Falk

You worked with a lot of Norwegian musicians on Leave. Can you elaborate?
I am fortunate to know many amazing Norwegian musicians, including my friend Helena Maria Falk. Helena played violin on the score, as well as the Hardanger fiddle, a traditional Norwegian folk instrument. It is best played by using drone notes and playing pretty melody lines over top of that.

What sort of programs/equipment do you frequently use on your scores?
My composing software is MOTU’s Digital Performer, and I have been using it for about 25 years. Honestly, I’m surprised I am not endorsed by MOTU yet. I use a variety of software synths and plugins to compose.

L-R: Jamie Christopherson with director Alex Herron and producers Dave Spilde and Ilana Pinker.

Two of my favorite instruments on this were some tape loop libraries, and a beautiful dark piano piece called “Fireside Piano.” With fire being a big part of the film plot, that was a happy coincidence.

What advice would you have for composers first starting out in the business?
My main advice would be to be persistent, passionate and kind. It is very hard work, so you better love it or you will hit a wall pretty quickly. As the saying goes, it’s “not for the faint of heart.”

What would be your dream project to score? Is there a director you would like to work with that you haven’t yet?
I am a big fan of Blumhouse and Jason Blum’s producing philosophy and execution. Coincidentally, we both went to a liberal arts school called Vassar College (different years). Many of the directors that he works with are really awesome.

I also think Ruben Östlund, who recently directed Triangle of Sadness, is a brilliant director. He makes some really bold musical decisions as well, and I’d love to work with someone like that who pushes me outside of my comfort zone. I, and artists in general, need a kick in the pants sometimes to break new ground.