Lakeshore Records will release the Rock Dog - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack digitally on February 24, 2017. The album contains original music by Rolfe Kent (Mr. Popper's Penguins, Up in the Air, Sideways) and original songs "Bodi Finds The Fire" by Adam Friedman & Rolfe Kent and "Glorious" by Adam Friedman.
"The story needed to have that sense of the exotic- that we had left Western society and gone somewhere different, somewhere mountainous, but not country specific," stated Kent. "To that end I explored different instruments and sounds. You know, the music needed to have that interesting ethnographic colour, but still sound like a movie score."
"Bodi has his own theme which we first hear as we follow him walking through the mountain village," said Kent. "He plays a Dramyen in the film. I listened to that and also went through collections of Tibetan and Mongolian flutes and horns and drums. Mongolian music has lots of very usable elements that work well for a western ear. I wove some great wooden flutes into the fabric of the music, and some Asian cymbals and drums, and we had some fascinating days recording all these incredible players live."
Kent incorporated these ethnic sounds with symphonic instruments. He explained, "I always loved the sound of Yo-Yo Ma's sliding cello in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and for Bodi's father, Khampa, who is a Kung Fu master after all, I used solo cello in a similar style, with the softly sad glissandos of the cello revealing his gentler side, and how he misses his son. This theme keeps coming back each time we revisit Khampa."
The wolves needed a sound of their own. "I enjoyed creating the wolves' musical elements, some sinister (inspired by brass harmonies in Prokoviev's Peter and the Wolf), and some slightly 70's grooviness, as they drive around in their 70's gangster cars. The wolves really bring some twisted spice to the story, and their recurring musical elements were always fun to work on," Kent described.