In tandem with Edgar Wright's latest feature, "Last Night In Soho," Back Lot Music has dropped a single, sung by none other than the film's star. Anya Taylor-Joy ("The Witch") steps behind the microphone and croons a soulful, downtempo cover of Petula Clark's '60s chart-topper, "Downtown," in a crisp new music video dropped first on Taylor-Joy's Instagram, then on Focus Features' YouTube channel. Mondo Music and Death Waltz Recording Co. will also release a 7-inch record of the single, with an uptempo version of "Downtown" on the B-side.

Each extended version of the classic pop song is produced by the film's composer, Steven Brice, with the orchestra recording at Abbey Road Studios in London. The 1960s-inspired soundtrack of various artists (curated specifically by Wright) drops on October 22 and includes three songs performed by Taylor-Joy, including a "Soho Version" of Cilla Black's "You're My World" and an a capella version of "Downtown." The arrival of Brice's full score to the film coincides with the film's release on October 29.

In a press release, Price commented on his arrangements of the songs Taylor-Joy performs:

"My thought was, imagine if Sandie's dreams come true and she got to do those songs at Café de Paris for real. So, we did the proper numbers, everything period accurate in Abbey Road. We then wanted to do a unique version of 'Downtown,' building on the audition Sandy performs in the film. We recorded a new slowed down version, combining the orchestra and textures of the film's score to create a haunting new take on the song."

"You Can Forget All Your Troubles, Forget All Your Cares, So Go…"

The video also serves as a light teaser, with clips from the psychological horror film. /Film's own Marshall Shaffer has good things to say about it, observing that Edgar Wright is "out of his comfort zone, but not out of his range." According to the synopsis for "Last Night In Soho," aspiring fashion designer Eloise (Thomasin McKenzie) finds herself able to access 1960s Soho, where she encounters a stunning aspiring singer, Sandie (Taylor-Joy). Behind the nostalgic glamour, Eloise's two-world reality fractures into something more sinister.

The writer-director of the Cornetto Flavors trilogy is no stranger to needle-drops, so it's no surprise that the director would be zealous about the music for his latest. The title of the film itself derives from a Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich track (that is indeed included in the various artists compilation). The press release further explains how intensely music figured into the process:

The decade long development of the story was done hand in hand with finding songs that set the tone for the film he had in mind. Then, he and co-screenwriter Krysty Wilson-Cairns listened to the music he'd assembled as they wrote the script; Wright even put together a playlist for his cast members to listen to as they read the results. But he also wanted a score to soundtrack the two eras of "Last Night in Soho" and tie together the stories of these two very different young women. To achieve this, Wright turned once again to his now-regular composer, Academy Award® winner Steven Price, who scored both "Baby Driver" and "The World's End."

While Price's influences for the score included contemporary film music by the likes of Ennio Morricone and John Barry, the music also explores musique concréte techniques of the time, looping fragments of dialogue and on-screen sound to add a unique and often subliminally sinister edge to the score. The sounds of '60s Soho blend into the present-day London scenes as Eloise is sucked further into the past. "One of the central ideas is that Sandie's voice becomes part of the fabric of the film, so you hear her siren song from the '60s bleeding through into the present day, and Anya's performances became an intrinsic part of it… I was so pleased that our lead actress could also be the lead singer in the film score; the whole thing knitted together," said Price.

You can pre-order the compilation soundtrack here or the score here. "Last Night In Soho" arrives in theaters on October 29, 2021.

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The post Last Night in Soho Soundtrack Features '60s Deep Cuts: Listen to Anya Taylor-Joy's Cover of Downtown appeared first on /Film.