Rob Guillory's eerie agricultural thriller, Farmhand, receives an atmospheric new score from composer Skies Speak; listen to new track "Ezekiel" below.
Last July, former Chew artist Rob Guillory planted an insidious seed with Farmhand. The comic series follows Ezekiel Jenkins as he moves his family to Freetown, Louisiana, where his estranged father Jedidiah awaits. But Jedidah's family tree isn’t the only fauna the patriarch has failed to nourish; he’s also the founder of Jenkins Family Farm, a “Farmaceutical Stem Cell Research” company that grows human organs from the ground on up.
But as Ezekiel soon discovers, good fruit can’t come from a bad tree, and his father’s harvest begins to creep and fester throughout the town. The cash crop winds through a local political election, a spy infiltration, and—most memorably—a gruesome King Charles Spaniel attack.
But Farmhand’s invasive roots will branch into different media on March 20th with a new soundtrack, courtesy of composer Skies Speak. The musician, née Jordan Vidrine, excels at crafting analog synth soundscapes and pacifying melodies. His 2018 LP, At War With the World, played with more menacing tones and claustrophobic layering. That unease blossoms into ominous dissonance in his 16-track original score inspired by Farmhand.
“The Farmhand Original Music Score started out as just a crazy idea between two buddies,” Guillory says. "Jordan (Skies Speak) and I have been friends for many years, and I'm beyond thrilled he was game to craft this special album for fans of the book. The initial idea was very simple: use my art to inspire his art. He devoured the first arc of the book, and from that he created a unique, immersive experience that adds a little something extra to the world of Farmhand.”
"When Rob asked me to create a soundtrack for the first arc of Farmhand I said ‘YES!’ My musical style has slowly turned toward a more expressive and ambient approach, and this project literally came at the perfect time,” Vidrine explains. "Without any guiding rules other than to be inspired by the first five issues of Farmhand, I was free to explore lots of sound combinations and dive deep into sound design. If you listen closely, you can hear everything from creaking doors to distorted and delayed samples of a cat's meow. This is my favorite album I've created thus far in my career and I couldn't be more happy with the way it turned out.”
Listen to new track “Ezekiel” below.The Farmhand Original Music Score is available on Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and Bandcamp on March 20th, 2019.
Farmhand Vol. 1: Reap What You Sow, by Rob Guillory and colorist Taylor Wells, is available now.