Former Home & Away star Jessica Chapnik is Ben Lee's new discovery. Instead of singing his new batch of songs himself, Jessica will take over vocals for Ben's 'The Square' soundtrack.
Ben tells Undercover News that he didn't fit his own soundtrack. "The voice of these songs becomes the voice of the movie, the musical subconscious to the characters experience," he says. "Although I knew what the songs and sounds should be doing, I also knew I wasn't the right voice for the songs. I struggled with who should sing them for months".Finding Jessica came about in an unusual way. "I was in India with Narayani Amma this year over New Years, as I often am," he tells Undercover. "Jessy is a dear friend and was in India with Amma too. One day it just entered my mind - why not let her have a crack at these tunes? I had only ever heard her sing backing vocals for Sarah Blasko, so I knew she could sing, but didn't really know what she would sound like carrying a song. I taught a couple to her and we made demos that blew me away. I emailed them to Nash (Edgerton) right away and he fell in love with Jessy's voice. That was that. She's just perfect for it. Her voice is sultry and mysterious, but also had an intimacy to it that I love. (She is a) Really great singer".
Some of the music for 'The Square' dates back to the turn of the century. "Some of the songs were written especially for The Square," he says. "Some date back as far as 7 or 8 years ago. I have been living with the story since an early draft of the script, through watching actors audition, visiting the set, watching edits, trailers etc so through all of that I've been looking for the musical thread. Although the movie is a thriller, Nash and I both felt that above all it is a story about love, so the songs are all very lush, yearning and romantic".
'The Square' stars Nash's brother, Joel Edgerton, Bill Hunter, Peter Phelps and Julian Morrow.
It will be released this year.
