Damian Lazarus on five all-important elements of any film soundtrack

The Crosstown Rebels boss gives us the lowdown

Even legendary artists need new avenues for occupation. They can’t simply rest on their highfaluting laurels, churning out the same music in the same styles, not linking their practise to the wider world. But despite that fact, it can be difficult for dance artists – who might be said to work largely in the abstract – to ease into this way of thinking.

Now, take a figurehead like Damian Lazarus: Crosstown Rebels boss, drum & bass promoter turned techno pioneer, all-round great. Within the wider scope of things, he’s never particularly been one to stay comfortable, having retained his grip on both the London, LA and Ibiza scenes since the early ‘90s. He’s a key figurehead in microgenres like electroclash, and in more recent times has helmed more exploratory ventures, like his experimental dance radio show Lazpod. 

Joining the fore of established artists who should have composed film scores but miraculously haven’t yet, he was recently tasked with an intense career curveball. Shortly after releasing his last original LP Flourish on Crosstown Rebels, he found himself captivated by, and deeply resonating with, a particular documentary film. 

Homing in on the end of the Chinese Cultural Revolution and the death of Mao Zedong, the film ‘Beijing Spring’ looks at a brief yet fierce artistic uptick occurring in and around the People’s Republic of China in the 1970s. Focusing on a group of artists called the Stars (which included the now-famous Ai Weiwei), the film chronicles the struggle for free artistic expression against an oppressive political backdrop.

Lazarus was not only aware of the film, but deeply resonated with its story. In 2021, he met its co-director Cohen in a nightclub in Geneva, which led to a blossoming professional relationship and the chance to rescore the film with a modern, avant-garde take. Within two days, he was recording musicians playing ancient Chinese instruments in a Bali studio, with each experimenting around the same tonal scale. After a spate of post-production and editing in Italy, the end result – Music Inspired by the Film Beijing Spring – proved alternatively moving and rooted in the sound of the Spring. 

But still, how on Earth could a musician of Lazarus’ orientation and standing – a super-established, English techno artist – score a film about a revolution that occurred on the other side of the world, nearly half a century ago? What possibly could he lend to the complex equation of sound and screen? And why would a techno producer and DJ know anything about film composition to start with? 

Lazarus himself thinks he can shed some light. Here are the five most important elements to a movie soundtrack, according to the techno viscount himself…

Emotion

In Lazarus’ view, there is a strong relationship between emotionally repressive social climates, and the emergence of underground movements like the Beijing Spring. Having come up and remaining rooted in dance music, he sees strong parallels between the Spring and the dance music ‘revolutions’ that have historically occurred in the UK and Detroit, seeing them as analogous.

“In times of oppression and economic hardship comes the best emotive underground art. I think you can easily compare and contrast places like Britain in the late 80s under Thatcher’s rule, and how the Criminal Justice bill led to the rise of illegal raves and the birth of Acid House, or how artists like Victor Jara used music to protest against the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile in the early 70s, or how the early rumblings of Techno began in Germany and Detroit against the backdrop of political division and poverty.”

Besides, “When the sun is out, who wants to be holed up in a studio? When it’s dark and gloomy, it’s a good time to make art,” Lazarus points out.

In order to bolster the emotional pace of a piece, Lazarus also talks up the use of intermittent motifs, and the deployment of emotionality in music at the right times and for the right reasons. “When you remove the music from a good movie you really notice the removal of the emotional impact of the moment and so its doubly important to add true emotion into the writing process.”

Patience

Lazarus says clearly and succinctly, “it took a long time to make this perfect. In a documentary you need to give the music space.”

Originally, ‘Beijing Spring’ cut a dramatic, cinematic and urgent soundtrack mood. However, Lazarus’ version is more brooding and patient, making subtler use of traditional Chinese instruments, and with each piece working in the same key. With this technique, he carefully constructs an unfurling narrative, with the unified scale of the piece representing, and rooting the music in, the staunch resolve of the Spring. 

Originality

At its core, Lazarus’ bold quest for originality came from a desire to match the budding creativity of the Spring. “I spent time with some incredibly talented musicians all playing ancient and unusual Chinese instruments and then worked my sound in amongst that, I hope giving it an original feel.”

“The idea of working on a project that involved freedom of speech and expression for Artists was very appealing. You can argue that artists create for the sake of creation but we all want to be seen and heard, right? Its a natural progression from completing some artist endeavour, for other people to experience and be moved by it. To experience the plight of these incredible Chinese artists who for years had been making their art alone and illegally and were suddenly faced with an opportunity to exhibit it on the streets of Beijing was very hard hitting and emotional. And then to think that this moment of freedom was so short lived before they all faced the harshest of punishments. Its incredibly sad. However, we must remember that some amazing work came out of this very difficult time and this film is here to showcase that.”

Character

“I made some of the instruments pertain to certain characters and themes throughout the score, which in itself gives the different pieces of music their own character.”

One of Lazarus’ favourite films is Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘Magnolia’. “I particularly like (the film) mainly because of the way the soundtrack is weaved into the storylines, even featuring the main characters singing to the score at times. It also feels like a dj mix in a way, an experimental one at that.”

Symbiosis

Lazarus talks up the importance of thematic ‘symbiosis’ in films, referring to elements of the soundtrack matching exactly what is happening on screen. “It’s important for a music score to work in harmony with the visual image, not against it.”

Lazarus’ favourite symbiotic films include recent works by Dennis Villeneuve and Panos Cosmatos. “Im a huge fan of the late Johann Johannsson, his scores and musical experiments for “Arrival”, “Sicario” and “Mandy” are incredible.” That Lazarus should mention Johannson isn’t a coincidence; the late composer had a similarly close affiliation to electronic music, having worked with Pan Sonic and CAN’s Jaki Liebezeit. His soundtracks, however, were known for their swelling and rapturous movements, upping their emotional pace only at the right times – often during sprawling establishing shots of landscapes, or during climactic, otherworldly story arcs.

Jude Iago James

Buy your copy of Music Inspired By The Film Beijing Spring here