When the production of X being interrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, West developed the script to Pearl and sent the complete draft to Bates, which he liked it and eventually expressed his involvement on scoring the film.[1][2] By the time Bates finished the score for X, A24 told West and the other crew members that they planned to release two films within a short span of time, which meant that the score had to be written, composed and produced within two months.[3]
Bates then told West about roping his orchestrator Timothy Williams as a co-composer, so that he could deliver the score on time.[4] Greg Prechel composed additional music and arranged instruments.[5] Both of them immediately worked on the film's score after the March 2022 SXSW Film Festival.[6][7]
A. O. Scott of The New York Times described it as "frenzied and portentous".[9]RogerEbert.com called it as a "gorgeous wall-to-wall score [...] that kicks off with a sumptuous main theme".[10] Joshua Rothkopf of Entertainment Weekly called it as a "churning wall-to-wall orchestral score" that was "intentionally emotive".[11] David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter wrote "the big surging sounds of Tyler Bates and Tim Williams’ old-school orchestral score signal high drama and danger from the start."[12] Clarrise Loughrey of The Independent described it as "winningly romantic".[13] Kim Newman of Empire summarized "The almost-continuous orchestral score by Tyler Bates and Timothy Williams is a romantic counterpoint to the onscreen action."[14] Shakyl Lambert of CGMagazine wrote "the score feels ripped straight out of an epic before dropping the pretense to something way more creepy."[15]
Track listing
Pearl (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) track listing
No.
Title
Length
1.
"Pearl Main Titles"
2:22
2.
"One Day"
3:15
3.
"Go Fetch Your Father"
3:24
4.
"Ride Home"
2:31
5.
"Dancing with Scarecrows"
2:28
6.
"Papa"
2:40
7.
"Bless Us, Oh Lord"
3:12
8.
"The Projectionist"
3:05
9.
"The Arts in Europe"
2:27
10.
"Alligator Egg"
2:07
11.
"The Whole World Is Gonna Know My Name"
3:17
12.
"What About Your Dog?"
3:37
13.
"The Red Dress"
2:12
14.
"Hot-House Rag"
1:38
15.
"We're Looking for Something Different"
2:17
16.
"I Should Probably Get Going"
2:07
17.
"A Bicycle and an Axe"
1:45
18.
"The Tableau"
2:23
19.
"I'm So Happy You're Home"
2:45
Total length:
49:32
Accolades
Accolades for Pearl (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
^Newman, Kim (March 16, 2023). "Pearl". Empire. Archived from the original on June 29, 2023. Retrieved July 20, 2024.
^Lambert, Shakyl (September 13, 2022). "Pearl Review – TIFF 2022". CGMagazine. Archived from the original on September 14, 2022. Retrieved July 20, 2024.