Polygon.com / 25.04.25

The song at the heart of Lazarus' score was inspired by a blues classic from nearly a century ago

Music has always been instrumental in Shinichir Watanabes anime (pun intended). More than just merely background music, every soundtrack featured across Watanabes body of work is inextricable from the identity of each of his series, from the big band jazz and rock of Cowboy Bebop to the lo-fi boom bap beats of Samurai Champloo. Lazarus, the latest sci-fi action thriller anime from Watanabe that premiered earlier this month, is no different, and may in fact be his most conceptually and sonically ambitious work to date. To create the sound for his new series, Watanabe didnt turn to a composer, but rather to a trio of his favorite musical artists: jazz saxophonist Kamasi Washington, EDM producer Floating Points, and downtempo EDM maestro Bonobo. Together, they would collaborate with Watanabe to craft the soundscape for his new universe. Polygon spoke to Simon Green, aka Bonobo, over the phone last week to talk about his experience working with Watanabe, his approach to scoring Lazarus, an...
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