A Ghost Story (soundtrack)

Did You Know?

• A special 180-gram white vinyl housed in an interior Eurosleeve featuring a turn-of-the-century ghost photograph with a glow in the dark coating was released on July 14.
• The soundtrack was released on digital platforms and CDs on July 7, 2017.
• Hart cited Komitas as an indirect influence, adapting techniques he developed for The Exorcist into the choral track Viventes Enim.

Development

Daniel Hart, who had previously worked with Lowery on Ain't Them Bodies Saints and Pete's Dragon, composed the score. He considered the film a meditation on love, loss, grief and the inability to participate in a relationship after death, rather than a traditional horror film. Hart avoided making the music overly emotional or frightening, aiming to support the actions on screen while allowing audiences to project their own feelings onto the silent ghost. To reflect themes of death and acceptance, he incorporated choral elements and texts from Virginia Woolf's A Haunted House, the Tibetan Book of the Dead, and the Biblical book of Ecclesiastes. Hart used lush string ensembles and violin ghost harmonics for an ethereal atmosphere, drawing inspiration from Arvo Pärt's tintinnabuli style on tracks like Little Notes and Post Pie. Hart also adapted techniques from Komitas for the choral track Viventes Enim, featuring soprano Katinka Vindelev, to reinforce contemplative themes of mortality and acceptance.

Reception

Phil de Semlyen of Empire wrote that Hart's score stitches together its long takes with sorrowful strings. Wendy Ide of The Guardian described the music as lush and string-heavy, with an unassuming beauty that is ascendant but hesitant. Roger Clarke of Sight and Sound noted that Hart contributed a song, I Get Overwhelmed, which sets the sorrowful mood. Ethan Anderton of /Film called it a haunting score, while Tim Grierson of Screen International termed it mournful. David Edelstein of Vulture observed that Hart makes every instrument as plaintive as a cello and as spooky as a theremin. David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the rich score, including a tender song written by Affleck's character, is dominated by mournful strings that accelerate and grow more agitated as the dead husband becomes distressed. Dana Stevens of Slate called it an achingly lyrical string score. Steve Pond of TheWrap described it as gorgeously evocative music that stands out in the sound design. David Ehrlich of IndieWire listed it among the best scores of the 21st century, noting that each piece feels like a distant echo of the Dark Rooms song recorded by Affleck's character.