PR: The Invitation (Theodore Shapiro)

LAKESHORE RECORDS PRESENTS
DRAFTHOUSE FILMS’ THE INVITATION - ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK

Featuring Original Music By Theodore Shapiro
With Two Original Songs by Craig Wedren & Benjamin Newgard

(March 14, 2016 – Los Angeles, CA) – In conjunction with the theatrical and On Demand release of Karyn Kasuma's psychological thriller, THE INVITATION, Lakeshore Records will release THE INVITATION - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack digitally and on CD April 8, 2016. The album features the original score by Theodore Shapiro (TRUMBO, ST. VINCENT) with two original songs by Craig Wedren & Benjamin Newgard: “Baby You’re Gone” and “Oh My Child”.

“THE INVITATION perfectly captures something essential about life in Los Angeles,” said Shapiro. “Los Angeles is a city of incredible natural beauty and utopian visions, but also a city in which dread, grief, and the curdling of those visions can often lie just underneath the surface. The score mostly functions in the film as the voice of dread, haunted memories, and grief that sits underneath the surface of a dinner party in the hills of LA. The music follows the film in its descent from uneasiness towards true terror.”

In THE INVITATION, the tension is palpable when Will (Logan Marshall-Green, PROMETHEUS) shows up to a dinner party hosted by his ex-wife Eden (Tammy Blanchard, INTO THE WOODS) and new husband David (Michiel Huisman, “Game of Thrones”). The estranged divorcees’ tragic past haunts an equally eerie present; amid Eden’s suspicious behavior and her mysterious house guests (including John Carroll Lynch "American Horror Story), Will becomes convinced that his invitation was extended with a hidden agenda. Unfolding over one dark evening in the Hollywood Hills, The Invitation blurs layers of mounting paranoia, mystery, and horror until both Will—and the audience—are unsure what threats are real or imagined.

“Most of the score is performed by one solo violin, overdubbing layer upon layer. The bareness of the solo string for me suggests the desert terrain of LA and the emotional barrenness of the main character Will,” said Shapiro. In addition to a violin, he used a boutique instrument called the Swarmatron, which produces eight tones tuned slightly different in pitch to create a natural choral effect. “Craig Wedren’s ghostly vocals create a sense of haunting, and the Swarmatron is like a synthetic facsimile of a voice.”

Theodore Shapiro studied music, wrote a musical about a cryogenically frozen head, and played in a neo-disco band called God at Brown University, and then received a Master’s degree in composition from The Juilliard School. Following Juilliard he began both scoring films and writing commissions for the concert hall, including works performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, New York Chamber Symphony, and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.

After scoring some notable independent films in New York, including Karyn Kusama’s GIRLFIGHT, and David Mamet’s HEIST and STATE AND MAIN, Shapiro was hired to score the hit comedy OLD SCHOOL for director Todd Phillips. He has since become one of Hollywood’s most sought after composers.

His recent film work includes the Academy Award® nominated film TRUMBO, ZOOLANDER NO. 2, starring and directed by Ben Stiller, THE INTERN, directed by Nancy Meyers and starring Robert DeNiro and Anne Hathaway, SPY, directed by Paul Feig and starring Melissa McCarthy, Rose Byrne, Jude Law and Jason Statham; THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY (for which he won an International Film Music Critics Award); Ted Melfi’s directorial debut, ST. VINCENT, starring Bill Murray; the critically acclaimed Sundance Film Festival entry INFINITELY POLAR BEAR, and the hit comedy WE’RE THE MILLERS. He was nominated for an Emmy for his score to the HBO film, GAME CHANGE. Other notable work includes the Ben Stiller-directed action-comedy TROPIC THUNDER, MARLEY AND ME, THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, I LOVE YOU, MAN, and the Oscar-nominated animated film, THE PIRATES! BAND OF MISFITS. Next up for Shapiro is the Paul Feig-directed reboot of GHOSTBUSTERS, starring Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig.

Track Listing:
01. Baby You're Gone - Craig Wedren & Benjamin Newgard
02. Into The Canyon - Theodore Shapiro
03. Eden, No - Theodore Shapiro
04. Attention to Detail - Theodore Shapiro
05. The Pills - Theodore Shapiro
06. Claire Departs - Theodore Shapiro
07. The Dinner Hour - Theodore Shapiro
08. I'm Actually Early - Theodore Shapiro
09. Ty's Room - Theodore Shapiro
10. A Better World - Theodore Shapiro
11. Rupture - Theodore Shapiro
12. There's a Plan for Us - Theodore Shapiro
13. Quiet In A Minute - Theodore Shapiro
14. Believe - Theodore Shapiro
15. I Hope We - Theodore Shapiro
16. O My Child - Craig Wedren & Benjamin Newgard

Drafthouse Films presents THE INVITATION, which premiered at the 2015 SXSW festival in Austin, TX and will hit theaters and On Demand on April 8th. Lakeshore Records will release THE INVITATION - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack digitally and on CD April 8, 2016. Mondo Records will be releasing a limited edition LP version of the soundtrack on April 6, available at www.mondotees.com and select independent record stores.

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