Milan Records today releases Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches (Original Television Series Soundtrack) by composer Will Bates. Available everywhere now, the album features music written by Bates for AMC Networks' newest series based on Anne Rice's best-selling trilogy Lives of the Mayfair Witches. Originally introduced by album lead single and the series main theme "The Witching Hour," Bates' soundscape is punctuated throughout by the ethereal vocal stylings of Los Angeles-based vocalist, producer and artist Maiah Manser, who contributes everything from choral-style vocals to guttural wailing and even singing in reversed Gaelic. Layered atop Bates' darkly ominous instrumentation and horror-inducing synthwork, the resulting soundtrack reflects the series' gothic New Orleans setting while maintaining the complexity of Rice's story and characters. Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches premieres new episodes on Sundays at 9:00pm ET/PT on AMC with new episodes streaming early on Thursdays on AMC+.
Of the soundtrack, composer Will Bates says, "The gothic horror of New Orleans and the complexity of Anne Rice's characters really allowed me to experiment with instrumentation and themes. I love to make use of the enormous power of melody when working on a show, planting the seed of a theme in 17th century Scotland and allowing it to grow into a new context in contemporary New Orleans. And I feel so fortunate to feature the vocals of Maiah Manser, she's truly masterful and I think her voice really became the sound of Rowan's internal subconscious. I asked her to sing in reversed Gaelic quite a bit. And after recording some guttural wailing for a certain 17th century Scottish funeral, I gather her studio cat no longer looks her in the eye. "