Paul Mescal shares first original song ‘Slip Away’

Paul Mescal has shared his first original song, ‘Slip Away’.

The song appears on the soundtrack to Mescal’s latest film Carmen, a modern-day retelling of George Bizet’s classic opera of the same name. The whole soundtrack is now available on streaming services, with Mescal also appearing on ‘Lullaby/Beyond’.

In a clip taken from the Benjamin Millepied-directed film, he is shown performing the song while playing an acoustic guitar.

Listen to ‘Slip Away’ below:

According to the synopsis, “Carmen follows a young and fiercely independent woman who is forced to flee her home in the Mexican desert following the brutal murder of her mother. Carmen (Mellisa Barrera) survives a terrifying and dangerous illegal border crossing into the US, only to be confronted by a lawless volunteer border guard, who cold-bloodedly murders two other immigrants in her group.

“When the border guard and his patrol partner, Aidan (Mescal) – a Marine with PTSD – become embroiled in a deadly standoff, Carmen and Aidan are forced to escape together. They make their way north towards Los Angeles in search of Carmen’s mother’s best friend, the mercurial Masilda (Rossy De Palma) and owner of La Sombra nightclub – a sanctuary of music and dance. Carmen and Aidan find both solace and their unwavering love for one another in the safety of Masilda’s magical refuge, but time is running out as the police hunt closes in.”

Carmen has just arrived in US cinemas and is rumoured to be opening in the UK next month.

“When Benjamin first approached me about Carmen, I remember feeling strongly that I didn’t want to ‘update’ or ‘re-arrange’ any of Bizet’s music,” said Oscar-nominated composer Nicholas Britell, who also co-wrote the songs for Carmen.

“There are already so many incredible adaptations of Carmen. We wanted our approach to be quite different: to write an original score and original songs, imagining this as a Carmen from a parallel universe. This approach also felt right given Benjamin’s instincts to take an experimental and dream-based approach to the feeling of the film.”

Mescal has reportedly been lined up for the role of Lucius, the nephew of Joaquin Phoenix’s villain Commodus, in Ridley Scott’s upcoming Gladiator sequel.