X (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Description

With *X* (2022), Ti West delivers a stylized slasher where the soundscape plays a central role. For the original soundtrack, he called upon Tyler Bates – who previously collaborated with the filmmaker on *The Sacrament* (2013) – and Chelsea Wolfe, making her first foray into the world of cinema. Together, they crafted a deliberately vocal and organic score, built around analog synthesizers and textures that evoke the sonic aesthetic of 1970s arthouse horror films. Bates introduces "wakka wakka" guitars as a recurring motif, adding a haunting pulse to the most unsettling scenes. Wolfe, for her part, lends her voice in an experimental, often non-singing, register to convey fear, tension, or the characters' fragility. This approach gives the film a unique intensity, oscillating between sensuality and unease. The result, released via A24 Music, lies somewhere between *Debbie Does Dallas* and *Rosemary's Baby* according to Bates himself: an unstable balance between pop seduction and psychological terror, which perfectly complements Ti West's dark and transgressive universe.