{"id":473833,"date":"2026-05-07T23:25:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T23:25:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/473833\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T23:25:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T23:25:18","slug":"alien-earth-composer-jeff-russo-used-aztec-death-whistle-for-theme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/473833\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Alien: Earth’ Composer Jeff Russo Used Aztec Death Whistle For Theme"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe xenomorph from the Alien franchise is one of the most legendary creatures in cinema history. Now it\u2019s the star of FX<\/a>\u2019s series Alien: Earth<\/a> too.<\/p>\n

\n\tMany filmmakers have put xenomorphs on screen and many composers have written music for them. Alien: Earth\u2019s Jeff Russo<\/a> may be the first to use the Aztec death whistle, as he explained at Deadline\u2019s Sound & Screen Television awards-season event.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Aztec death whistle was just something that my engineer, Michael Perfitt, brought into the studio one day,\u2019\u201d Emmy winner Russo said. \u201cI went behind the glass and played it a couple times. It became very evocative of the stress and tension one might be under when faced with a xenomorph.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Aztec death whistle may have the best name, but it\u2019s not the only exotic instrument Russo uses. \u201cThere\u2019s this bassdesmophon made by a company in Switzerland I had built for this particular purpose,\u201d he told the crowd at UCLA\u2019s Royce Hall. \u201cIt\u2019s a very evocative, guttural sound.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRELATED: All Of Deadline\u2019s Sound & Screen TV Panels<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tAlien: Earth stars Sydney Chandler as Wendy, a dying child transferred to a synthetic body. When her brother (Alex Lawther) discovers her new form, Russo was challenged to craft a sibling love theme.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThat\u2019s a delicate fine line to play because it\u2019s emotional but there\u2019s no romance,\u201d Russo said. \u201cIt\u2019s not romantic. it needed to walk that line.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tL-R: Deadline\u2019s Anthony D\u2019Alessandro and Jeff Russo<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJC Olivera<\/p>\n

\n\tAlien: Earth creator Noah Hawley follows in the footsteps of Ridley Scott, James Cameron, David Fincher, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Fede \u00c1lvarez in the movie series. Similarly, Russo doesn\u2019t forget the scores by Jerry Goldsmith in Alien and James Horner in Aliens.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere are little things I wanted to call back to,\u201d Russo said. \u201cThere\u2019s a delay with the horns that happens in a lot of places. The way [they] built tension with high strings, give a little bit of that to the score but also trying to create something that is unique for us since this is the first time the story\u2019s ever been told on Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRusso has read seven of the eight scripts for the upcoming Season 2<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cNoah knows that once he sends me those scripts I\u2019m going to start thinking about it and writing and formulating a plan for the next chapter,\u201d Russo said. \u201cI\u2019m now trying to formulate what that is. I sit down in my studio and bang stuff out on the piano before I try to write.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe is hopeful for more creature themes, including the eye monster that is original to the series.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI didn\u2019t get a chance to write a theme for our Eye Midge,\u201d Russo said. \u201cI haven\u2019t gotten to write one for that particular character, but I\u2019m hoping in Season 2. I\u2019m sure the Aztec death whistle will end up in Season 2.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCheck back Monday for the panel video.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The xenomorph from the Alien franchise is one of the most legendary creatures in cinema history. Now it\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":473834,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[263],"tags":[10637,18,117,19687,19,17,207703,327,95850,207704],"class_list":{"0":"post-473833","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-alien-earth","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-fx","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-jeff-russo","15":"tag-movies","16":"tag-sound-and-screen","17":"tag-sound-and-screen-television"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116535881011352040","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/473834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}