His creepy score made 'Obsession' a blockbuster. What's Rock Burwell's next wish?

Before you cognize thing is incorrect with Nikki successful “Obsession,” you consciousness it successful the music.

Seconds aft her aspirant boyfriend, Bear, snaps the One Wish Willow to marque her autumn successful emotion with him, she walks backmost retired of her house, a small sheepish and recently smitten. But the groaning synthesizer underneath her bashful grin tells you thing is disconnected — a crystalline code present distended, unnerving.

“From that constituent on, there’s a tinge of darkness,” composer Rock Burwell said of that awesome infinitesimal successful “Obsession.” “It was a analyzable country to fig out, due to the fact that it’s specified an intimate moment. How tin we benignant of get this feeling that’s disorienting, weirdly playful, but besides twisted and concerning? It’s the personification of that privation manifesting successful existent time, and the spectator becoming alert that thing is awry.”

That song, “R U OK” is simply a standout infinitesimal successful Burwell’s people for “Obsession,” the breakout fearfulness deed of the summer. The movie changeable Curry Barker onto the A-list of caller directing endowment and made a prima of Inde Navarrette and her virtuosically unhinged show arsenic Nikki.

As “Obsession” hits streaming aft 2 months of dominating theaters, the movie is getting preemptive Oscar buzz, too. Part of that attraction is aimed astatine Burwell’s score, a masterpiece of physics minimalism successful which transportation bends and hard clashes make the dread and whiplash that marque the movie truthful tense.

As artificial quality and firm consolidation endanger movie and TV budgets and opportunities for emerging artists, Burwell’s enactment connected “Obsession” is simply a potent statement for reinvesting successful young, edgy talent.

“I’d beryllium lying if determination wasn’t a spot of impostor syndrome that comes with doing your archetypal diagnostic and it’s truthful well-received,” Burwell said. “But I truly anticipation that determination volition ever beryllium a spot for that idiosyncratic successful the industry, wherever radical resonate with the enthusiasm and passionateness of archetypal ideas. I really, truly anticipation that ne'er dies.”

Burwell — a tall, measured 31-year-old whose crisp cheekbones and mildly ringleted hairsbreadth could person led him successful beforehand of the camera alternatively — spent his aboriginal composing years with a musicians’ corporate successful his autochthonal New Hampshire. On the patio of Lawless Brewing successful North Hollywood, not acold from his location successful the Valley, wherever helium inactive lives post-“Obsession,” helium recalled moving to L.A. successful 2019 with a rapper person and ferociously networking connected no-budget projects successful the indie euphony scene.

He entered Barker’s orbit successful 2024 erstwhile the director’s drama team, That’s a Bad Idea, was looking for archetypal euphony and a communal person deed up a shaper Burwell collaborated with.

“They came to my spot and we produced a drama song, similar a Lonely Island benignant of thing, and they changeable a euphony video to it,” Burwell recalled. “It was during those weeks that the rumblings of ‘Obsession’ began, and Curry got it greenlit. We liked moving together, and helium saw that we had a akin wavelength, and helium conscionable benignant of tossed it up, like, ‘Hey, however would you consciousness astir scoring a feature?’”

“It’s an insane happening to wrapper my caput around, to adjacent perceive immoderate portion of the movie beryllium perchance considered for immoderate benignant of Oscar looks,” Burwell said. At first, “it was like, ’Am I the feline for this job?’”

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

That movie would spell connected to gross much than $400 cardinal connected a fund of little than $1 million. Like Zach Cregger with “Weapons” oregon Kane Parsons’ “Backrooms,” Barker built connected the run-and-gun inventiveness of the sketch-group net country to helm a culture-shifting fearfulness deed connected a minuscule budget. Now Burwell has emerged arsenic the spine-tingling Angelo Badalamenti to Barker’s David Lynch, oregon possibly a synth-patching Bernard Herrmann to Barker’s Alfred Hitchcock.

The “Obsession” people is an ingenious showcase of decay and reinvention, taking day-spa keyboard swells and wringing them retired beyond recognition. “You Wished for This” careens from ponderous ambience to shredded integer noise; The 2 parts of “Love is successful the Air” recasts the yearning of a classical Hollywood emotion taxable into a blood-soaked rictus grin.

“I’ll ne'er hide the archetypal clip I binge-watched ‘Twin Peaks,’ and however it made maine feel,” Burwell said. “There was this uncanny vale wherever it’s truthful beautiful, but it’s truthful earthy and visceral and acheronian astatine the aforesaid time. I deliberation that’s benignant of the cardinal to my heart. Curry looked astatine this movie arsenic a romance movie disguised arsenic a fearfulness film, to research these much analyzable emotions alternatively than conscionable drilling successful connected the horror. I deliberation allowing these things to develop, and past twist them, research the acheronian wrong them, was what was successful.”

The “Obsession” people has already blown done a mates vinyl pressings, proving that young fans privation to revisit the euphony connected its ain terms. “That’s the astir astonishing and shocking portion to me,” Burwell said. ”The full clip moving connected the film, I was lone looking astatine however the euphony tin service each scene. But I’ve had radical messaging maine saying, ‘I haven’t had a accidental to spot the movie yet, but I can’t halt listening to the soundtrack,’ which is truly cool.”

Burwell’s beingness whitethorn alteration again if the movie keeps up its Oscar buzz. “Sinners” and “Weapons” proved ambitious fearfulness tin so sway the Academy. A microbudget manager redeeming the summertime container bureau with a thoughtfully gruesome movie astir naivety, misogyny and consequences is an inspiring Oscars meta-narrative. Burwell’s euphony would beryllium an outsider prime for a people award, but a Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross-caliber prime to win.

“It’s an insane happening to wrapper my caput around, to adjacent perceive immoderate portion of the movie beryllium perchance considered for immoderate benignant of Oscar looks,” Burwell said. At first, “it was like, ’Am I the feline for this job?’ But Curry believed successful me, and ultimately, I believed successful myself, and it’s been a propulsion and propulsion conflict of owning it and feeling truly proud, and past second-guessing the quality constituent of seeing thing you worked connected astatine specified a ample scale.”

Burwell is slated to constitute for Barker’s follow-up, “Anything but Ghosts,” astir a brace of cynical paranormal investigators who brushwood the existent thing. He said it’s excessively aboriginal to cognize if he’ll beryllium tapped for Barker’s reimagining of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” for A24, but helium has his fingers crossed. He’d emotion to constitute for a afloat orchestra someday — “That sounds truthful cool. I don’t privation to cosplay arsenic a classical composer, but I’d emotion to get to a constituent wherever I consciousness similar I tin constitute thing that truly tin basal connected immoderate crushed successful that field.”

In the meantime, he’s dropped a fewer singles from his shoegazey solo broadside project, Museum Complex, that hint astatine however his people enactment mightiness construe successful a wall-of-distortion set setting. He whitethorn person popular opportunities, too. Burwell said he’s flattered by caller online praise from the likes of Ethel Cain, Flying Lotus and Kid Cudi for his score. “I’ve looked up to Kid Cudi for decades, and to spot the ‘Obsession’ formed retired raging with him connected stage, and [him] having specified precocious praise for the film, it’s brainsick to cognize he’s heard my music,” helium said.

As Hollywood frantically tries to replicate the occurrence of “Obsession,” different aspirant directors and musicians are trying to reverse technologist the right-place, right-time magic. There isn’t a acceptable way to a deed similar “Obsession,” Burwell said, beyond doing the enactment and making ambitious friends. Even arsenic civilization permeates up from the internet, being astir the country is important.

“People person asked maine what’s a portion of proposal you could springiness to aspiring composers oregon musicians. It’s the proximity effect of being adjacent to radical moving connected things,” Burwell said. “Even though we unrecorded successful a modern property wherever anyone tin enactment connected thing remotely, it’s inactive the information that Curry and I lived 5 minutes distant from each other, and we tin conscionable up successful idiosyncratic and get a existent consciousness for each other, that meant much than thing else.”

The eerie ambient euphony that drives “Obsession” — truthful artfully serrated and delicately mangled by Burwell — emerged from a counterintuitive originative nuance that AI could ne'er capture. If determination are immoderate lessons for Hollywood to larn from “Obsession,” it’s to not instrumentality shortcuts to the prize you’re longing for.

“If we’re successful a postapocalyptic landscape, creation is going to beryllium 1 of the things that inactive connects people,” Burwell said. “You ne'er rather cognize however things mightiness instrumentality signifier if you don’t truly person a program B, and conscionable look up and enactment passionate. You ne'er cognize what telephone you mightiness get, oregon who you mightiness get connected to that could alteration your life.”