Splinters, the 2018 film from acclaimed Nova Scotian filmmaker Thom Fitzgerald’s has recently received a wider re-release. And alongside it is a collection of original songs and scoring entitled To the Bone by Stewart Legere, who also acts in the film. Deeply ruminative and standing beautifully even outside the film’s context, Legere has put together a moving mix of contemplative folk gems and melancholic murmurs of ambience- a fitting background for a film centred around a funeral.
No stranger to combining acting and music with his wealth of experience in Zuppa Theatre and Accidental Mechanics Group, Legere says that even if the mediums vary, “the creative spark is the creative spark.” The confident execution of these mournful songs shines brightly on this album he describes as a “soundtrack of sorts.”
“I wanted to put together what I thought was a cohesive special features soundtrack for the film,” says Legere. “So, that’s why I describe it that way. It’s in no way because I’m not proud of it. It’s mostly just because I want to set things up for success so that a listener can know what they’re going into.”
Legere says that Thom Fitzgerald was aiming for the vibe of “Kris Kristofferson in the 70s, films that have a folk singer who just scored the whole thing.” While the thematic context of the songs may be rooted in folk, Legere says he made the score more “austere” to match the dark, contemplative, autumnal Nova Scotian mood of the film. We only receive a glimpse of the pensive beauty of the score, but the majority of the album rings with the stoic sensitivity of Sufjan Stevens and Fleet Foxes.
Splinters is an adaptation of Lee-Anne Poole’s play of the same name which follows a woman returning to her small-town home for her father’s funeral. Having come out as queer some time before, she navigates returning with a male partner and the struggles that come with holding onto her own queer identity with a cishet presenting relationship, all in the wake of mourning her father.
Legere’s character is a singer-songwriter who spends the wake performing in the kitchen. The artist says that the context of this role mirrors his own identity, and greatly informed the conceptual seed behind the songs he wrote.
“I wanted the tone to be appropriate to the film, but in the end, it’s just a person, a singer-songwriter in the film playing his songs. And so obviously I wanted them to come from me. They had to come from me if I was going to play them and have them exist out in the world separate from the film.”
Legere’s characteristic style is abundant on the album. His gentle and captivating tone breaking into short, sweet bursts. The thoughtful progressions, surpassed only by the thoughtful lyrics, ripe with feeling and connection.
Across the board, the tracks all stand on solid ground, but the emotional anchor is certainly the title track. Legere explains that it’s a lament and honour to Vanessa Walton Bone, who performed in the original production of Splinters and has since passed away. A beautiful tribute to a friend, its creation also reflects the themes of the film powerfully.
Stewart Legere’s work hits like a force of nature- subtle and expressive as it sits with you, and every now and then surprising you with bolts of dynamic beauty. It’s no wonder that the artist seems so comfortable in this cinematic context. To the Bone is a testament to Legere’s potent command of emotion, both as an artist and as a human.