Video: Riley Keough Sings on Single Off the Sasquatch Sunset Soundtrack, Which She Calls ‘Most Beautiful Song She’s Ever Sung’
Keough is among the stars of the new film, which is out April 19, and follows a year in the life of a family of Sasquatches
Riley Keough’s main focus may be on acting, but her grandfather Elvis Presley’s powerhouse pipes run through her blood. On Friday, a single from the soundtrack of Keough’s latest film Sasquatch Sunset dropped — and it features vocals from the Golden Globe-nominated star, 34. Titled “The Creatures of Nature,” the song was composed by the Austin, Texas-based indie group The Octopus Project, who wrote the score for the movie, and is the sole song on the soundtrack to feature the actress.
As Sasquatch Sunset follows the joyous and somber moments of a year in the life of a family of Bigfoot-like creatures in the wilderness, “The Creatures of Nature” is a beguiling folk song about the mysterious spirits and their relationship with the environment.
Keough — who is the granddaughter of the King of Rock and Roll and daughter of Lisa Marie Presley — delivers a stunning, haunting performance as her gentle voice soars over humble strings.
Like her mythical character in the film — in which she is completely unrecognizable, playing the matriarch Sasquatch — she sounds atmospheric and somewhat mystical, like she’s one with the wilderness that she’s singing tenderly about.
The 23-song soundtrack is set for release on Friday, April 12, one week before the film directed by brothers David and Nathan Zellner arrives in theaters on Friday, April 19.
Another version of “The Creatures of Nature” will appear on the album: the “Grunts Variation,” which presumably includes the addition of the grunt-like noises her character in the film makes.
The Octopus Project shared a statement in a press release about “The Creatures of Nature.”
The experimental group said, “‘The Creatures of Nature’ comes from a concept that David Zellner had to end the film — we started with a recording of him speak-singing the lyrics and the direction to craft something inspired by ‘Come Wander with Me,’ a folk ballad sung by Bonnie Beecher in a 1964 Twilight Zone episode.”
As the song plays during the end credits, they added, “We always knew that this song would be the last thing audiences heard before leaving the theater, and we wanted to create something that musically conveyed the bleak ambiguity in the last shot of the film.”
The Octopus Project also spoke about how much they enjoyed collaborating with the Emmy-nominated star. “Riley Keough perfectly captures that haunting beauty with her voice and we couldn’t have been more honored for her to sing our song,” they shared. “She recently told us that it was the most beautiful song she’s ever sung — our hearts melted.”
Keough stars in Sasquatch Sunset along with Jesse Eisenberg, co-director Nathan Zellner and Christophe Zajac-Denek. The foursome make up a family of curious, wild creatures in the Pacific Northwest trying to navigate spring, summer, fall and winter amid a changing natural landscape.
The indie film premiered at Sundance Film Festival in January and marks Keough’s return to the silver screen since starring in the acclaimed TV series Daisy Jones & the Six, which debuted on Amazon Prime Video in spring 2023 and garnered the Zola star Emmy and Golden Globe nominations.
Although Keough played the titular rock star in Daisy Jones & the Six, around the ’70s-set show’s release, she admitted in interviews to being nervous during the audition process because she doesn’t consider herself a vocalist.
In a Vanity Fair interview, the series’ producer Lauren Neustadter shared, “We talked about [Keough] singing and we talked about her grandfather and she sort of said, ‘You know, I know I have it in me, but I really don’t sing outside the shower. This is not a thing that I’ve done before, but I’m ready to do the work,’ and she really did.”
The Under the Silver Lake star herself told the outlet, “I was like, ‘I can’t do it,’ and when I can’t do something, it lights a fire in me to be able to do it. I was like, I have to do it. I’m gonna go to this vocal coach, and he’s gonna teach me how to f—ing belt, whatever I need to do to get this. It really became about pushing myself to do things I’ve never done before.”
Despite performing on select soundtracks, it doesn’t seem likely that fans can expect an album from Keough anytime soon.
On the red carpet for the 2024 Golden Globes, she told Variety that she will “probably never” release a record. “I don’t really think I’m, like, much of a songwriter,” she said. “So we’ll see. You know, I’ll never say never.”
