Autechre’s Sean Booth has revealed that the duo were originally lined up to produce the soundtrack for Nintendo’s 2002 game Metroid Prime.
Speaking in a recent six-hour Ask Me Anything stream on Twitch, Booth said he was technically breaking a non-disclosure agreement by revealing the news, but confirmed that Autechre were first enlisted to create the score before Nintendo ultimately opted to use music by Japanese composer Kenji Yamamoto.
Autechre’s involvement in the game has long been the source of speculation after the duo’s name was listed among the credits upon its original release in 2002, and Booth’s revelation has now put such speculation to bed.
"We met up with them [game-maker Retro Studios] in Austin," Booth said in the stream. "They were really keen and we were really keen, because it’s fucking Metroid, the best game ever. And then Nintendo borked it for some reason and wanted their guy to do it, so that was that really.
"I don’t know how much involvement they had in the sound of it, or whether they intentionally tried to make it sound a bit more [like] us, but I don’t think so really. I’ve read people saying they think it sounds a bit like us, but I don’t think it does. But it’s subjective really."
Elsewhere in the stream, Booth talked about David Lynch being a fan of Autechre’s work. Responding to one question, he said that the duo had been asked to play a fundraiser for the David Lynch Foundation, just before the COVID-19 pandemic shut everything down.
"He sent us a nice little letter, it was really cool," Booth said. "I was like, ‘Fucking hell, a letter off David Lynch!’ I think he likes us enough to want us to do a gig for him."
Asked by another person which track of his or Autechre’s that he’d play for Lynch, Booth said he’d probably opt for "something unreleased, because I’ve got a few things that I think he might like that I’ve not put out."
You can watch the full AMA back here.
Last month, Booth took to the comments of a YouTube video to confirm that the music featured within it did indeed feature unreleased material by Autechre and Gescom as speculated by the video’s title.
