Bobby Krlic (born 20 December 1985), known by his stage name The Haxan Cloak, is a British composer, artist, music producer and musician. The Haxan Cloak has released two full-length albums (2011's ''The Haxan Cloak'' and 2013's ''

Excavation Excavation may refer to: * Excavation (archaeology) * Excavation (medicine) * ''Excavation'' (The Haxan Cloak album), 2013 * ''Excavation'' (Ben Monder album), 2000 * ''Excavation'' (novel), a 2000 novel by James Rollins * '' Excavation: A Mem ...

''). As a producer, Krlic has worked with artists including

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct three-octave vocal range and eccentric persona, she has de ...

, Father John Misty, Khalid,

Troye Sivan Troye Sivan Mellet ( ; born 5 June 1995) is an Australian singer-songwriter, actor and YouTuber. After gaining popularity as a singer on YouTube and in Australian talent competitions, Sivan signed with EMI Australia in 2013 and released his th ...

Goldfrapp Goldfrapp are an English electronic music duo from London, formed in 1999. The duo consists of Alison Goldfrapp (vocals, synthesiser) and Will Gregory (synthesiser). Despite favourable reviews and a short-listing for the Mercury Prize, their ...

serpentwithfeet Josiah Wise (born July 9, 1988), known professionally as serpentwithfeet, is an experimental musician based in Brooklyn, New York City. Wise released the EP ''Blisters'' in 2016, his debut studio album ''soil'' in 2018, his second EP ''Apparit ...

and The Body. He has also composed several

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrac ...

s, credited under his real name, including

Ari Aster Ari Aster (born July 15, 1986) is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is known for writing and directing the horror films ''Hereditary'' (2018) and '' Midsommar'' (2019). Early life Aster was born into a Jewish family in Ne ...

's 2019 horror film '' Midsommar,'' and television series ''Snowpiercer'', ''Angel of Darkness'' and ''

Reprisal A reprisal is a limited and deliberate violation of international law to punish another sovereign state that has already broken them. Since the 1977 Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions (AP 1), reprisals in the laws of war are extreme ...

''.

Early life and education

Krlic was born and raised in

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

, England.Larry Fitzmaurice
“Rising: The Haxan Cloak,”

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

, 21 February 2013. He is of

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe * someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people * Serbian language * Serbian names See also * * * Old Serbian (disambiguation ...

descent. He studied music and visual arts at the

University of Brighton The University of Brighton is a public university based on four campuses in Brighton and Eastbourne on the south coast of England. Its roots can be traced back to 1858 when the Brighton School of Art was opened in the Royal Pavilion. It achi ...

.Nick Johnstone
“Interview: The Haxan Cloak,”
'' The Stool Pigeon'', 8 January 2013.

Music career

The Haxan Cloak releases

Krlic's first release as The Haxan Cloak was the ''Observatory'' E.P., landing as a cassette via Aurora Borealis on Halloween 2010. A year later, Krlic recorded his first album, ''The Haxan Cloak'', in his parents' shed using strings, mics and a laptop, playing every instrument himself. The second LP, ''

'', was released in 2013, and has a more electronic feel, using samples and heavy bass, along with distorted field recordings made by Krlic. In 2012, The Haxan Cloak released a limited edition, one track, 27-minute live recording, ''The Men Parted the Sea to Devour the Water'', as a part of

Southern Records Founded 1992 by John Loder, Southern Records is an independent record label (Loder also ran the recording facility Southern Studios). It is based in London and until 2008 had offices in the United States, France and Berlin. The label is close ...

' Latitudes series. Krlic has also released remixes of songs by other artists under The Haxan Cloak, including Father John Misty

Foals A foal is an equine up to one year old; this term is used mainly for horses, but can be used for donkeys. More specific terms are colt for a male foal and filly for a female foal, and are used until the horse is three or four. When the foal ...

and

Production credits

In 2014, Krlic teamed up with American sludge metal band The Body to produce their 2014 album ''I Shall Die Here''. In the same year he produced ''Victim by'' noise rock band

HEALTH Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organ ...

. Krlic also collaborated with

as a co-producer on her album ''

Vulnicura ''Vulnicura'' is the eighth studio album by Icelandic musician and singer Björk. It was produced by Björk, Arca and The Haxan Cloak, and released on 20 January 2015 by One Little Indian Records. Björk said the album expresses her feelings bef ...

'', released in January 2015. Since then, he produced

's E.P. ''Blisters'',

's 2017 album '' Silver Eye'', ''Heaven'' by Khalid from 2019's ''Free Spirit'', and by

's 2018 single ''

Animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and go through an ontogenetic stage ...

.'' He also produced Father John Misty's cover of ''Fallin' Rain''. and co-produced his 2020 singles ''To S. / To R''.

Scoring work

Krlic was invited by Oscar-winning score composer

Atticus Ross Atticus Matthew Cowper Ross (born 16 January 1968) is an English musician, record producer, composer, and audio engineer. Along with Trent Reznor, he won the Academy Award for Best Original Score for '' The Social Network'' in 2010. In 2013, th ...

to work with him on

Michael Mann Michael Kenneth Mann (born February 5, 1943) is an American director, screenwriter, and producer of film and television who is best known for his distinctive style of crime drama. His most acclaimed works include the films '' Thief'' (1981) ...

's film '' Blackhat'' released in 2015. In 2016, Krlic continued his work with Ross, co-scoring ''

Triple 9 ''Triple 9'' is a 2016 American heist action thriller film directed by John Hillcoat and written by Matt Cook. The film stars an ensemble cast featuring Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Anthony Mackie, Aaron Paul, Clifton Collins Jr., Norm ...

'', directed by John Hillcoat, and the soundtrack to ''Almost Holy'', a documentary directed by Steve Hoover. In 2019, Krlic scored

's second feature horror film '' Midsommar'', for which Krlic won Best Original Score at the 2020

Ivor Novello Awards The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and composing. They have been presented annually in London by the Ivors Academy (formerly the BASCA) since 1956, and over 1,000 statuettes have been a ...

. Within television, Krlic has scored a number of major network shows including TNT's ''

Snowpiercer ''Snowpiercer'' () is a 2013 post-apocalyptic science fiction action film based on the French climate fiction graphic novel ''Le Transperceneige'' by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand and Jean-Marc Rochette. The film was directed by Bong Joon-ho a ...

'' and ''Angel of Darkness'', Hulu's ''Reprisal'' and

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

's ''Seven Seconds''. In 2020 he collaborated with

Swans Swans are birds of the family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Someti ...

on a Halloween Pass of

Red Dead Redemption 2 ''Red Dead Redemption 2'' is a 2018 action-adventure game developed and published by Rockstar Games. The game is the third entry in the ''Red Dead'' series and a prequel to the 2010 game ''Red Dead Redemption''. The story is set in 1899 and f ...

Rockstar Games Rockstar Games, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was established in December 1998 as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, using the assets Take-Two had previously acquired from BMG Interactive. Foun ...

Touring

In 2014, The Haxan Cloak toured the United States visiting Washington, DC, New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles. He performed at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple along with Robert Henke and his music and light show, ''Lumière'', and in Los Angeles with Pharmakon.

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

called The Haxan Cloak's set "amorphous, ominous and immersive, a transcendent plunge into darkness and overwhelming pressure". The Haxan Cloak performed a solo show at

Manchester International Festival The Manchester International Festival is a biennial international arts festival, with a specific focus on original new work, held in the English city of Manchester and run by Factory International. The festival is a biennial event, first tak ...

in 2017. Bobby Krlic also joined

on her ''Vulnicura'' tour in the U.S (including The Governor's Ball in New York) and Europe.

Musical style

Krlic's music is almost entirely instrumental, and is often described as dark, carefully constructed, textured and atmospheric, with heavy bass and elements of

drone metal Drone metal or drone doom is a style of heavy metal that melds the slow tempos and heaviness of doom metal with the long-duration tones of drone music. Drone metal is sometimes associated with post-metal or experimental metal. Characteristics ...

. Of his albums, Krlic has said, "The first record was about a person's decline towards death, so this one's about the journey he takes afterwards." The name Haxan Cloak derives from the Swedish "häxan", meaning "the witch". ''Excavation'' was rated a 9 out of 10 by Spin, and an 8.7 out of 10 by Pitchfork, who also named it the 29th-best album of 2013. ''Rolling Stone'' named it the 16th-best dance album of 2013. ''Midsommar'' received wide critical praise including a 9/10 from ''The Line of Best Fit'', ranked 2 in Insider's Top 20 Best Movie and TV Soundtracks of The Decade, and critic Glenn Kenny of ''The New York Times'' stating that “The remarkable music score by Bobby Krlic aka The Haxan Cloak is also a major contributor to the uncanny feeling the movie creates. Top Stuff."

Awards

*2019: '' Midsommar'' – Nominee, Breakthrough Composer of the Year – International Film Music Critics Association *2020: ''Midsommar'' — Winner, Best Original Soundtrack –

*2022: ''Returnal'' – Winner, Outstanding Achievement In Original Music Composition - DICE Awards *2022: ''Returnal'' – Winner, Best Music –

BAFTA Games Awards The BAFTA Games Awards or British Academy Games Awards are an annual British awards ceremony honouring "outstanding creative achievement" in the video game industry. First presented in 2004 following the restructuring of the BAFTA Interactive En ...

Personal life

Krlic moved from London to Los Angeles in 2015. As of 2016, he resides in the Silver Lake area.

Discography

Albums

Extended plays

Film soundtracks

TV & video game soundtracks

Songwriting and production credits

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Haxan Cloak, The 1985 births Alumni of the University of Brighton British electronic musicians British record producers Dark ambient musicians English film score composers English male film score composers English people of Serbian descent Living people Musicians from Wakefield