How ‘Is God Is’ Became Moses Sumney’s Scoring Debut
Sumney paired his brilliance with storied composer-producer Joseph Shirley to soundtrack Aleshea Harris’ film adaptation
Moses Sumney had never been “terribly interested” in being a film composer.
But when he read the script for Aleshea Harris’ directorial debut, Is God Is, it blew him away. So much so that he had to say yes to Amazon-MGM Studios’ offer to score it. “I thought the script was really wonderful and it was cool to read such an original voice jump off the page […] In the end, it actually felt like a lot of friends and mutual friends sort of coming together to do something great,” he explained to VIBE.
The actor-singer — in collaboration with Harris’ vision and the expertise of co-composer and producer Joseph Shirley — created the score and soundtrack for the riveting film. Is God Is is a story about twin sisters Racine (Kara Young) and Anaia (Mallori Johnson), tasked with killing their abusive, absentee father at the request of their mother. It highlights revenge and the lengths one may go to while confronting deeply rooted, emotional ties.
Sumney spoke with us about his musical approach, favorite film scores, the Is God Is scene that initially resonated most with him, the challenges and rewards of being a novice composer, and whether he’d do it all again.
Warning: This feature contains spoilers from the film Is God Is.
Was there any particular part of the script that you read and you were like, “Oh, I already have the vision for how I should score this scene?” Definitely the flashback scenes, which are pretty graphic, but the main one is the story of how they got their burns. That was pretty visceral. Aleshea had even more specific ideas about a whistle she wanted the man to do. It got down to details that were that specific. Also, one of the things my co-composer, Joseph Shirley, and I were tasked with doing was coming up with a sound for when the twins are engaging in telepathy, speaking to each other with their minds. It was fun to brainstorm what that could be like. More than anything, I think we wanted the film to have a unique palette, and we decided that the most unique palette would be to build much of the sounds off my voice.
It’s been noted that you use your “elastic voice.” What does it mean to use it when figuring out what music would soundtrack that twin telepathy?Hmm, I’m not really sure. If anything, in the score, what we’re trying to do is make a lot of sounds that you don’t even realize are built off of the voice. A lot of the synths and the keys. Even when it’s a blues song like “Man’s Blues,” a lot of the padding work and percussion are done with the voice. I think it’s really just about stretching the human voice to its absolute limit in the same ways that the girls are sort of stretched to their limits in the film.
When creating this score and the original songs for the movie, what were the most rewarding and challenging parts of that process?Oh my gosh. I mean, the most challenging part for me is that I’m just so used to being self-employed, in charge, and working alone. The beautiful thing about film is that it is such a collaborative industry and art form. You’re adjusting to the workflow of supporting another person’s vision and sometimes getting into the cacophony of many voices. Decisions on what should happen, I think, required this sort of adjustment. I’m also not necessarily the fastest person, but in film, you’ve got to come up with ideas, redo them, and then change those ideas pretty quickly [all] without a sense of attachment. All of those things were challenging, but what was really great was that we were at least working for someone with a really strong voice and vision. The most rewarding thing is getting to see the movie in theaters, which is cool. I’ve never had the experience of seeing music I made in a film before. That was incredibly rewarding, and I’m very proud of the work that we did. Related Content Halsey Cast in 'X'/'Pearl' Sequel 'MaXXXine' Watch Moses Sumney's Self-Directed Live Concert Film 'A Performance in V Acts' The Weeknd, Lily-Rose Depp Are Ready to Party in New Trailer for HBO Series ‘The Idol’ Chance the Rapper Gives Art-Inspired Performance of 'Child Of God' on 'Colbert'
You should be because it’s phenomenal. Oh, thank you.
Just the play on Black women being able to act out their rage in a very unhinged manner, but also a very appropriate manner for their psyche. It’s so powerful in so many ways, speaking to the juxtaposition between internalizing your rage and expressing it outwardly. There are just so many layers to it, and I think the film is beautifully done.Thank you. I’ll let Aleshea know you said that.
A lot of what you mentioned was for their twin telepathy, but then, when Racine’s character dies, how did you end up scoring that part of the film where it’s finally Anaia by herself with her child, and she has to explore life on her own for the first time? Oh, that’s a great question. That was one of the harder moments to score, because it’s so sad and for me, so unexpected. I was just like, “Oh dang, I thought they were going to ride or die to get it to the end.”
We all did.Racine was trying it throughout the movie, so you kinda expect something to happen between them. That definitely took a lot of stabs. No pun intended. It was really about not making it too sad. That was the main thing. There’s a Valerie June song that really inspired us while making that. And for me, I wanted it to be a song that captured the melancholy of the film and also connected to a lot of the melancholy that’s in my work, especially the more kind of soulful-folk stuff. I wanted to capture that melancholy, but also really capture a sense of hope, because [Anaia’s] obviously pregnant and she still has a whole life to look forward to. She is going to experience freedom, and she kinda gets to be independent for the first time without actually having to sacrifice her twin. I wanted to have a song that was — “Don’t Leave Me Be” is the song that comes right after that moment. I wanted it to just feel like, “Oh yes, it’s bittersweet. It’s not just devastating.” Ultimately, she’s looking up to the sky with her child in her hands, so that was the goal.
That was really beautiful because throughout the film, Anaia had her moments of like, “I need to step away from you, twin. We’re not on the same page right now.” I feel it was a big moment for her character to be like, “I’m finally free from everything, from the rage, from the sadness, from the heartache, from me trying to find a redemptive arc for my father, all these things. It’s like, it’s just me, and I can just now raise my child in this new environment, all this newness around me.” That was powerful.Yes.
When you sat down and were like, “Okay, I’m going to be a composer and score a film.” Were there any movie scores or soundtracks that resonated and made you want to pursue this?I’ve got to say I really love Nicholas Britell and the work that he’s done to support Barry Jenkins’ films, especially the score for If Beale Street Could Talk. I mean, it’s radically different. Around the time we started scoring the movie, Babygirl by Halina Reijn had just come out, and that was scored by this lovely composer named Cristobal [Tapia de Veer]. There’s a lot of effed up sounds in that that were cool. But more than anything, I’ve never really endeavored to be a film composer, to be honest with you. I think film and TV have come to me, I guess thankfully, because my music is so overdramatic. With this score, I wanted to really capture an intimacy that was really bold. I also like Stevie Wonder’s [Journey Through The] Secret Life of Plants a lot, which was a score that became an album and stuff like that. That’s just not doing what you’d expect it to do.
Would you score a film again?We’ll see. I’m so focused on getting my next album out, and I’m at the tail end of making it. I definitely wouldn’t be able to do it again soon. It takes a lot of time, and I want to give it the time and respect that it deserves, but more than anything, I’m excited for this to come out and for people to live with this work. We’ll see if I can do it again.
