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We chat with Michael Levine about his work on Resident Evil: Biohazard…

Composer Michael Levine is no amateur when given the task of creating an iconic theme for a project. Levine is the man responsible for creating the famous Kit Kat ‘Gimme A Break’ jingle that every person with a TV has heard. More recently he produced Lorde’s rendition of ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’ for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. So when Capcom approached Levine about creating a theme for their upcoming Resident Evil 7: Biohazard videogame he was more than prepared to take on the task and doing so successfully, as it became the main song featured in the trailer also. As the much anticipated game was released this week we decided to speak with Levine about the process of creating ‘Go Tell Aunt Rhody’. Read the full interview below..

How did you first become involved with Resident Evil 7: Biohazard?

Capcom contacted my agent, Koyo Sonae, because they liked the music I produced for the Lorde cover of ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’, used in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and the trailer for Assassin’s Creed Unity. In that case, it was great fun to take a familiar song that most of us remember as being light and bouncy, and make it dark and dramatic.

How did you prepare for the task of creating ‘Go Tell Aunt Rhody’?

Capcom asked me to think of a song that was traditional, yet recognized internationally. And then turn it into something profoundly scary and creepy. I went through a lot of songs in my head. But because I was born in Japan, I knew that the traditional Japanese song Musunde Hiraite and the American song Go Tell Aunt Rhody had the same melody. Also, Go Tell Aunt Rhody had the line “the old grey goose is dead” which caught my attention. I changed to “everybody’s dead,” ran the idea by Capcom, and they liked it. Then I wrote some new music and lyrics that had to do with the storyline of the game.

When creating ‘Go Tell Aunt Rhody’, were you working with the game’s director or music supervisor? Did they have a very clear picture of what they wanted the song to sound like or were you given a little more freedom to explore on your own?

Because I don’t speak Japanese fluently, my agent Koyo served as translator between me and the team from Capcom. They knew they wanted something much darker than the original folk song but it was a process of discovery as we found that we could make the track more and more abstract and sound-design like yet still maintain a clear melodic through-line.

We must have done at least a dozen versions. The first ones featured a wonderful singer named Mariana Barreto, who is still on the track as the background choir (including the children’s choir, of which I am part, also.) However, at some point we felt the song would be better served by having an edgier, deeper lead vocal and we began auditioning singers – without telling them what they were auditioning for. We probably went through something like 100 submissions until we settled on a marvelous singer from New Zealand named Jordan Reyne. I seem to have good luck with “kiwis” – Lorde is from New Zealand, also.

Mariana also sang backup on the Lorde track and, parenthetically, is my daughter.

SEE ALSO: Read our review of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard here

Did you know the song was going to be in the trailer too or were you pleasantly surprised the first time you saw it?

I did know before the trailer was complete – they asked for an edited version to length – but I didn’t know that starting out. The team got more and more enthusiastic as the track took shape and it the number of ways it was being used increased.

Because Resident Evil is such a huge franchise, did you feel any extra pressure to produce something that wouldn’t let the fans down?

Oddly, no, or, at least, not for long. My best work usually feels like it’s not really my work but, rather, something that is given to me. I do my best to get out of my own way when I am composing and trust the process. The peculiar alignment of Rhody and Musunde seemed like a message I could not ignore. Once I surrendered to that message, the pressure lifted.

The song has both very soothing and intense sounds. What instruments did you find yourself using to create these extreme opposites?

The most intense sounds are highly processed real world sounds, some musical, some not. One of the best moments arose from a misunderstanding: the Capcom team asked me to feature the distorted piano at the end of the first of the last two choruses. I thought they meant it should be soloed – which turned out to be a great effect.

I am a violinist by training. The track includes bits of my ciola, or octave viola – a viola tuned like a cello. Not all of those are soothing sounds. There is a sound I get by rapping the strings with a pencil and then distorting the result. I used a similar sound on my violin when working for Hans Zimmer on Batman: The Dark Knight.

How did your collaboration with Jordan Reyne, who does vocals on the track, come about?

I believe her manager saw a cryptic Facebook post I made, looking for a distinctive singer for a secret project, and inquired. As it turned out, Capcom was alarmed because they were afraid people would figure out it was the RE 7 project, so I took down the post after just a few hours. Nonetheless, in just that short time, we found Jordan, and I am delighted we did!

Have you played any of the Resident Evil games before working on this?

No. But I will now!

You can learn more about Michael at http://michaellevinemusic.com/.

‘Go Tell Aunt Rhody’ is now available on Amazon.com.