Kubo and the Two Strings official soundtrack is available now oniTunesandSpotifyahead of the films Aug. 19 theatrical release.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Do you think this cover will surprise people who expect a certain sound from you?
Theres this energy thats very rock and roll, and I loved the juxtaposition.
Credit: Robin Marchant/Getty Images; Laika Studios/Focus Features
I was like, Damn, why dont they just use this one?
Its so fing cool!
Once I spoke with [director Travis Knight], I understood where he was coming from.
Its a love story to a child from his mother.
All of these things are happening on the backdrop of him sitting and playing quietly to himself.
In addition to this cover, youre dropping a new album later this year.
What can we expect?
Is it sonically in-line with other albums youve done?
I had so many songs waiting in the wings or waiting their turn to be produced.
I mixed and matched to get them out of the purgatory of being sketches.
All of these songs are new, even to me.
Recording the full orchestra was one of those great, incredible feelings.
You tend to work with a minimal number of producers.
Is that the same this time around?
I worked with this incredible producer who is so cool and talented and kind and fun.
His name is Leo Abrams, and hes an amazing guitarist.
I felt so free to experiment, and we had so many fun roads we went down.
On other things we were like, Wow, this is fing amazing.
and people are like, No, it just sounds like a piano!
Sounds are big to me, but I dont know if theyre going to be giant to everybody else.
All the processing techniques, all the string arrangements it was very fun to rearrange all the strings together.
