‘Poor Things’: Why Jerskin Fendrix and Yorgos Lanthimos are the perfect pairing
Though he remains relatively unknown compared to the likes of his peers and collaborators Black Country, New Road and Famous, Jerskin Fendrix personifies the new generation of alternative music surrounding the Brixton Windmill. A scene populated by art school kids, the Cambridge-educated pianist, vocalist, songwriter and composer embodies the current sound, blending his classical training with weirder, quirkier influences.
In 2018, Fendrix composed the music for an opera at the Victoria and Albert in London. Since then, he’s worked with bands across the alternative and electronic scenes, releasing a Christmas single with Black Midi and producing a track for hyper-pop artist GFOTY. He even received a shoutout from Black Country, New Road on ‘Track X’, as Isaac Wood sings, “Dancing to Jerskin, I got down on my knees”. His wide-ranging influences have shone through in his eclectic solo output, which pairs piano with electronic production and bizarre lyricism.
Now leaving Speedy Wunderground and PC Music behind, Fendrix’s latest collaboration will be his debut venture into feature film scoring. The multi-instrumentalist recently revealed that he composed the music for Poor Things, the newest film from acclaimed director Yorgos Lanthimos. Starring Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo and Willem Dafoe, the surreal sci-fi is based on a novel by Alasdair Gray and follows the resurrection of protagonist Bella Baxter.
Though a pairing of the Birmingham-born underground musician with the Greek director may seem out of the blue, their collaboration is the perfect marriage of the classical and the fantastical. Lanthimos, like Fendrix, was educated in his trade, studying directing in Athens and dabbling in Greek theatre before entering the world of experimental cinema.
Lanthimos’ filmography has often combined influences from the modern with the traditional to increase cinematic surrealism and anxiety. His 2014 psychological thriller, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, was inspired by a Greek tragedy, but one of its most famous scenes features an unnerving cover of Ellie Goulding song ‘Burn’. The director has become well-known and well-loved for his comically blunt and direct dialogue, clean cinematography and unsettling themes.
Though his foray into scoring will presumably take a different sonic approach to his solo output, Fendrix’s avant-garde pop mirrors elements of Lanthimos’ approach to filmmaking, particularly in his abrupt lyricism that deals with awkward topics. Fendrix once told The Quietus: “I’m looking to be as explicit as possible. I’m looking to convey an idea or an emotional event as truthfully and justly as I can.”
He continued: “In writing some of these songs, I really didn’t want to settle for anything less than the most specific manifestation of these feelings I could possibly achieve. In the future, I might listen back to it and think, ‘Oh god, why? Why couldn’t you be more subtle about it?’ – but it made sense at the time.”
You can hear it in his lyricism – on ‘Oh God’, as Fendrix confesses, “I messaged every girl who had ever seemed into me”, while on ‘Onigiri’, he laments, “You won’t ever see what I eat for tea anymore.” It’s the kind of stark writing you can easily envision coming out of Lanthimos’ on-screen collaborator Colin Farrell’s mouth.
Fendrix’s output combines the honest with warped soundscapes that mix the classical and electronic, the perfect accompaniment for Lanthimos’ characteristic surrealism. The two share a talent for the weird and the honest, pairing striking writing with clean production and classical influences. Each with cult followings to their names, their collaboration on Poor Things can only increase the unsettlingly truthful nature of their art.
For your first glimpse at Fendrix’s warped classical-electronic blend score, watch the trailer for Poor Things below.
