Uzumaki’s Colin Stetson Talks Creating The Creepiest Anime Soundtrack (Exclusive)

Horror is no stranger to the anime world though it is quite lacking in comparison to the way that the genre has overtaken Hollywood. When one thinks of horror related to the medium, there is one name that anime fans will routinely drift to when they think of the best examples of spooky manga series, Junji Ito. Thanks to the popularity of the mangaka’s works, Ito has received past anime adaptations of his work but Adult Swim, Production I.G., and Studio Drive are looking to change the game. Recently, we here at ComicBook.com had the opportunity to talk with Uzumaki’s soundtrack creator Colin Stetson about what it took to create music for the cursed mountain town.

To start, Stetson thanked anime fans for their patience in the project, which had been delayed numerous times in the past, “I know everyone has been waiting quite some time for this but I’m glad that they took the steps to make this what they wanted it to be, what they needed it to be because it’s gorgeous.” Stetson is no stranger to the horror world, as some of his past works include horror films such as Hereditary, Color Out Of Space, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

The Creation of The Uzumaki Soundtrack

In detailing the early days of the project, Colin noted that the COVID lockdowns gave him the necessary time to forge the killer soundtrack, “It was a combination of things, it was conversations with the director Hiroshi Nagahama, it was reading the entire manga and steeping myself in that, in the images and themes. I had the script from day one, so seeing how they were adapting it and what was being reduced, a lot of different things went into the structure of the soundtrack in my head. Aesthetically, I’m always trying to establish what the universe is, what are my rules and what am I dealing with. The thing that was different about this was that I had talked about joining the team right before COVID hit so we had all these conversations and then I got to do a deep dive for months in ‘mad sciencing’ this soundtrack. No distractions, unencumbered, I got to play, explore, and figure out what this series needed.” 

The musician then discussed how Uzumaki’s creepy themes helped develop his own style for the soundtrack, “In my conversation with Nagahama, you’re finding the focal points of the series. Themes of obsession, this mutation, this transmogrification. Obviously, the spiral in its shape and all the other elements were influential and the pacing of this show was going to respect the shape and pacing of a spiral. All these things came into play. I came up with a way to represent ‘spiral’ in a musical sound. My music has a cyclical feeling to it which is why I think I was approached for this project.” 

The Birth of Uzumaki

Stetson was beyond thankful to hear his works played back to him in revisiting the series now that Uzumaki is beginning to air its episodes, “I knew this was going to be special and I was as excited as anyone else. The music was actually written years ago so being able to revisit the songs is exciting in itself. I spent countless hours mired in all of this and I adored working on this. I say this for everything but this is my favorite thing I’ve ever worked on. I wouldn’t say fun, but I would say this is a ‘gardening joy’, I care about it in every nook and cranny but I admire it all.” 

We then asked Colin about his work in horror in general, as we previously mentioned, Stetson was no stranger to the world of the supernatural, “I think when directors approach me for my work in film, a lot of people that reach out to me are those in the horror, thriller, and darker edge in film. I think there’s something that works well in my music that uses certain methods to elicit an honest human reaction. One of the ways that we can do that is not clinging to convention, we exist in a world where we are endlessly entertained with music that doesn’t necessarily make us feel. We know where we’re going and so what I try to do is use certain sonic methods to try to circumvent that, to get a foot in the door with audiences’ vulnerabilities.” 

Colin Stetson x Junji Ito’s Future

To prepare for Uzumaki, Stetson familiarized himself with Ito’s vast library. In ending our conversation, we poked the musician’s brain regarding if there was another horror story of Ito’s that he would like to tackle, “I don’t know that I’ve ever thought of doing another one, that’s a really good question. Now I’m going to explore it much more consciously! I have a big appetite when it comes to comics and graphic novels and so that is something that I’m going to be obsessed about. Which Ito story would I like to create a soundtrack for? I always think ‘What can I add to this story?’ So while I haven’t thought of another one, I am now going to not stop thinking about it.” 

Want to listen to Colin Stetson’s Uzumaki soundtrack right now? You can do so by clicking this link. Uzumaki premieres on Adult Swim on Saturday, September 28th, streaming on MAX the following day with English Dub encores landing the following Thursdays.