Sparks & Shadows announced the release date for the Everly – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack on January 20, 2015. The album features original music composed by Emmy Award-Winner Bear McCreary with vocals performed by Raya Yarbrough and Brendan McCreary.
"I first conceived of the story for Everly, as my ode to Asian cinema, holiday movies like Die Hard, and entrails," said Lynch. "Bear McCreary is one of the most eclectic composers working today and there was no-one else I wanted to tell this story with me musically, so much so I named the head Yakuza Boss "Taiko" as an homage to one of Bear's signature sounds."
"For Everly, director Joe Lynch asked me to combine searing electronics, intimate chamber orchestra, Japanese instruments, pounding taiko drums and Christmas carols into a film score, supporting an action movie that takes place inside a single room!" said McCreary. "On paper, it sounds insane. In reality... it's still pretty insane, but I had the time of my life making it."
"Everly is a film in which Salma Hayek must stay alive in an apartment while confronting wave after wave of increasingly volatile and vicious Yakuza gangsters. It is pretty much as awesome as it sounds," described BadassDigest. MovieFone described it as "a symphony of exploding heads and bullets."
To score this "symphony," Lynch turned to frequent collaborator Bear McCreary. Lynch said, "Bear and Team McCreary (including his lovely muse Raya and badass brother Brendan, who worked on the holiday tracks) were the sonic glue that holds the madness together, and I don't know what the film would be like without his work on it."
"Drums aside, it was still clear that Japanese music would be an important influence on Everly," said McCreary. "The majority of the film's characters are Japanese, including Everly's ally, Dead Man. I found use for other ethnic instruments including Bansuri, Shakuhachi, Biwa and Shamisen. I also drew influence from the film's time setting: the holidays. I knew that Christmas music would be an important tool at my disposal. I focused my energies on the score, and recruited my brother Brendan McCreary to produce and arrange both classic and original Christmas tunes for various scenes."