Songwriters Jake Xerxes Fussell and James Elkington have collaborated on their first original film score for “Rebuilding”, the new feature film written and directed by Max Walker-Silverman. The film, which stars Josh O’Connor, Lily LaTorre, Meghann Fahy, Kali Reis, and Amy Madigan, made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year and will release in cinemas in the US on 14th November 2025. The album also arrives the same day, via Fat Possum Records, in vinyl and digital formats.
“Rebuilding” follows Dusty (Josh O’Connor), a reserved, divorced father whose ranch has burned down in a devastating wildfire. Now living in a trailer community on a government-run campsite, Dusty finds solace with his new neighbours who have also lost everything, quietly reassembles his life, and starts reconnecting with his ex-wife Ruby (Meghann Fahy) and young daughter Callie-Rose (Lily LaTorre). Producer Dan Janvey initially recommended Fussell’s music to Walker-Silverman, who immediately saw potential. “I could hear the cinema in it right away. His music is rooted firmly in all the folkloric traditions I love, but not at all nostalgic. And that was much like the film we were making; a story in which the past is all around but firmly of the here and now. And since so much of his music has no lyrics, Jake already understood the challenge of telling a story through instrumentation alone.”
Knowing he couldn’t take on the entire project on his own while on tour, Fussell called up long-time collaborator Elkington to join him. What followed was intuitive and often improvisational, driven as much by instinct as formal direction, working remotely between Fussell’s home in Durham, North Carolina and Elkington’s studio in Chicago.
In the final stages, the pair came together in Chicago alongside Walker-Silverman, who joined them in Elkington’s attic studio to refine the score. “I think Max had a suspicion that we’d be able to improvise a couple of new pieces in the room, while watching the picture, which turned out to be true,” Elkington says. “Some of our favourite cues were written that way – in the room while watching the picture.”
The album can be pre-saved / pre-ordered at this link.
They have shared two previews of the soundtrack, ‘Glow In The Dark,‘ which you can listen to below, and ‘Contemplating The Moon.’
