“En Casa Duermen Los Muertos”
Sound has always been a key part of my process as an actor; I religiously make playlists for characters I play based off lyrics I feel resonate with the character and songs that sonically align with the character’s energy. For Unaccountably We Remain, I used this playlist in my writing and rehearsal process to inform the world and my work. Below, I have curated a few of the stand out pieces that heavily influenced the show or were directly added into the show.
Estevie, La Cumbia del Cucuy
“Duérmete niña, duérmete ya
Que viene el cucuy y te comerá
Escóndete niña, escóndete ya
Vendrá por la noche y te llevará”
Translation:
“Sleep now, girl, go sleep at once
The Cucuy is coming and he’ll eat you alive
Go hide girl, go hide at once
He’ll come late at night and steal you away”
This song served as transition music into my piece. It is a cumbia spin on an old nursery rhyme about a bogeyman that eats naughty children, called “El Cucuy”. A cumbia is a dance in which a man tries to woo a woman without touching her. This felt fitting for the nature of Juana and Adam’s relationship.
I wanted the song to hold a bit of impending dread; almost as if she played it in the car on the way to the church, but the closer she got the more time slowed. So I edited the piece (which is normally bouncy and fun) to reflect Juana’s reality; that she is walking straight into the jaws of el Cucuy.
This song appeared on shuffle one day and was the factor that solidified the name of the other character I briefly play being named Adam. I was very drawn to the imagery of Juana feeling that her bones are made of Adam (though he has not yet possessed her). The lyrics speak to a desperation to not let go of Adam, to be utterly claimed by Adam, and this was foundational in developing the history of the relationship between Juana and Adam.
Jensen McRae, Adam’s Ribs
“This heartbreak quietly rewired me
My world is ending now
Don't tell me to calm down
This love letter begins
To Adam, from your ribs
So-called intelligent design
Without you, I would die
I can't lose you yet
I refuse to let you go
Loving you is in my bones
Something's gotta give
Adam, will you claim me as your own?”
Hozier, It Will Come Back
“I know who I am when I'm alone
I'm something else when I see you
You don't understand, you should never know how easy you are to need
Don't let me in with no intention to keep me
Jesus Christ, don't be kind to me
Honey, don't feed me, I will come back”
A lot of Hozier exists on the playlist for UWR as, lyrically, Hozier invokes a lot of earthiness, death, and rebirth in his works. This song was another contender for the transition music, but I opted against it in favor of a song that felt like it came from Juana’s perspective. This is a song from Adam’s perspective.
In the context of Juana and Adam’s relationship, I placed this around the second or third summoning. Adam and Juana are both, in their own ways, attempting to crawl back from the brink of a type of death. Adam knows what he can offer Juana, but with this song he serves a warning. Coming back is dangerous to her continued existence as she knows it.
This song is a haunting cover of a Mexican ranchera I grew up listening to. Its creeping harmonies and eerie instrumentation capture the mood of the piece in a way that sunk me into the world when I listened to it.
The songs lyrics about a slow growing love over nights spent together was another brick laid in the foundation of Juana and Adam’s relationship. It helped inspire the story in terms of how Juana and Adam grew into love together.
Leonel Garcia y Natalia Lafourcade, Cuando Sale la Luna (Deja Que Salga la Luna)
“Yo sé que no hay en el mundo
Amor como el que me das
Y sé que noche con noche
Va creciendo más y más
Y sé que noche con noche
Va creciendo más y más”
Translation:
“I know that in the world there is no
love like the one that you give me
and I know that night by night
it grows more and more
and I know that night by night
it grows more and more”
Increase Thy Thunders, Robin Carolan from Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu
This song made it into the final moment of the piece, when the possession takes place. It perfectly captured the epic nature I wanted for the final moment. Through rehearsal, I realized that I needed some sort of sonic assistance to help lift the final moment to the stratosphere, the moment when the audience gets to watch actual magic take place before them. I wanted it to feel horrible and thrilling when the snow fell down at the very end of the piece.
I edited it to begin with the howling of wind, which is the language of Adam’s presence being made known, and then slowly faded in the song to represent Adam slowly filling Juana’s body with power and his own presence.