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Flying Lotus is sharing “Oxygene,” the first song on the soundtrack of his self-scoreddirectorial debut, Ash. The space horror finds Aaron Paul, Eiza González, and Flying Lotus himself – born Steven Ellison – in new, sci-fi worlds of psychological and physical terror. “Oxygene” begins dark and foreboding, buzzy synths that sound like bugged-out footsteps before shakers and organ-like riffs give it a glimmer of hope.
“Oxygene” is one of 27 songs on the Ash soundtrack. A trailer dropped last fall. The film will premiere at SXSW on March 11 and will be followed by a theatrical release on March 21.
“Working on the score was both inspiring and challenging,” Flying Lotus said in a press release. “I spent most of the time writing it during the final post-production and color grading when I was in New Zealand, running back and forth to different rooms to check on progress and going into my lil cave there and working with just my laptop and controller. I drew inspiration from composers who primarily just used synths to create soundtracks, like John Carpenter, Akira Yamaoka, Angelo Badalamenti, and Vangelis. It was a great time trying to find a distinctive sound for the movie that also felt fresh and unique for me to explore.”
Last October, Flying Lotus also dropped the danceable EP Spirit Box, his first solo, non-soundtrack project since 2019’s Flamagra. At the time, he told Rolling Stone, “I make stuff all the time, and I feel like I’m just now in a place where I can focus on catching up with myself. The newest stuff that I’m doing is super bugged-out and loud and really fast. And there’s a time for that, but I really want to say this right now, too. To me, these are sure-shot vibe tracks. And I want to get those things across, and then maybe I’ll hit them with something really crazy later.”
