There’s a lot of beautiful and artistic iconography and cinematography in the modernDunemovies. The Director of Cinematography, Greig Fraser, had a great eye and there’s a lot of detail put into everything. From the worldbuilding to the costuming, language usage, and of course, the soundtrack. By far the most earworming part of it was those vocals, for good and bad.
Similar to those same yodels from the infamous Snyder cut, there’s a signature bit of singing interspersed throughout the films that are used either to set the tone or to add to the dramatic hit of a particularly significant scene. After a while it starts to fade into the background if you’re not paying attention, but for those who are curious, here’s every time we hear the iconic vocals in the Dune movies.
What Are The Iconic Vocals?
The caterwauling in question isthe rhythmic vocals sung by Loire Cotler, a singer and Music Therapist, who wasdirected by Hans Zimmerduring production. It all works together well to create an instantly noticeable andheart-wrenching melodywhenever Cotler is unleashed.
Unlike theSnyderverse yodeling, which jangles the nerves and grates the spine whenever it screeches out of your television set, Cotler’s tones are usedsparingly and thematically, mostly.
If you were to jokingly ask someone whatthe theme tune of Dunewas, they would no doubt attempt their impression of Cotler’s singing.
According to Zimmer in aninterview with Vanity Fair, Cotlers singing was an attempt to highlight the “strength of the female voices in Arrakis”.
He would also go on to wax poetically about it bringing asense of spirituality to the scorebefore closing with referring to Cotler as a woman whoknows everything about rhythmand when prompted will give you: “The cry of a Banshee”.
Loire Cotler has also lent her vocal talents to other noteworthy movies and series such asRaya and the Last Dragon, andThe Sandman.
Warning: Spoilers For Dune Part One And Part Two Are Below
Every Time The Iconic Vocals Play In The Dune Movies
So now that we’ve established what we mean bythe iconic vocals, it’s time to track down every time they pop up. Because, as we mentioned already, they’remostly used well and set the right toneat the right moments.
For those who enjoyedthe Hans Zimmer soundtrackand for others who just loved the films, here’s each timeCotler got to go looseon the movie’s soundtrack.
Dune: 2021
Our first hurdle to tackle is thefirst modern movie adaptation of the Dune novelsand though the1984 film technically was the firstto do it, it doesn’t have the same soundtrack. So we’ll just be involving the onesold Hans Zimmerhad a hand in.
Our first introduction to Colter’s singing comes in a slight tease of the soundtrack whenPaul is talking to Duncan Idaho about his dream, or rather his vision of Duncan dying. We don’t hear the full thing up to the vocals, but it’s worth mentioning as it’sa hint of things to come.
We finally hearCotler belting our her first bit of vocals at 27 minutesinto the two hour long film. The scene in question isa flash of the sands of Arrakis, seen whilst Paul is suffering and havingpsychic fever dreamswith his hand in the box of pain during his trial with theReverend Mother of the Bene Gesseriton Caladan.
It’s a nice thematic hit during a tense moment and really cements the prospect of us seeinglots and lots of sparkly sandfor the foreseeable future. The soundtrack quietens down again andCotler is subdued until around an hourwhere Paul is helping torescue the Atreides Harvester from the Sand Wormand we get some light almost ethereal vocals.
Fitting as the scene shows a sand-filled and almost otherworldly plane. Then the vocals get overwhelmed by a big orchestral build-up before it cuts out asPaul starts to trip balls on Spicefor the first time.
We get to enjoyseeing abig Sand Wormfor the first timeso we’ll be shifting ahead to the next time we hear Cotler and that’s aroundone hour and twenty minutesin when the Harkonnens are absolutely wiping the floor with the Atreides. It’s abig CGI-fest involving a lot of explosions, a pretty high body count, and Loire yelling away over the top of it all at key moments in the soundtrack when the brass section calms down.
Atone hour and thirty-five minutes into the timecodeyou’ve forgotten about Cotler, but there’s still plenty of movie left and she comes back swinging. Right asDuke Leto is cracking his poison toothto assassinate the Baron, the soundtrack swings Cotler in from the rafters with a heart-raising roar. Leto dies andthe Harkonnen entourageis thrown into chaos inside a toxic glass cloud.
Then it all settles down briefly beforewe get another blast a minute lateras we stand with Dr. Kynes and seea new dawn with the Atreides group devastatedand the Harkonnens moving back in. There’s a lovely big vista shot asDuncan Idaho turns up and yells at Kynesabout how the Emperor sent them (The Atreides) to Arrakis to die.
It all really drives home just how wrecked everything is now and sets the stakes for the saga.
We get another yell interspersed with choral vocals around one hour and fifty-two minutes in whenDuncan Idaho gets stabbedas he faces off against a very large group of Sarduakar all by himself. Cotler keeps yelling for a few seconds until the soundtrack drops out as Duncan hits the floor dead.
We watch Paul, Jessica, and Kyne separate andhead off into the desertand the soundtrack does its own thing without Cotler. That is untilKyne gets backstabbed by Sarduakarat around one hour and fifty-six minutes into the movie. She summons a worm and she and the Sardaukar that attacked her get swallowed whole. Thenthe film focuses back on Paul and Jessica’s escapadesand Cotler drifts away again.
It’s at this point you start to notice that Hans only wheels Cotler out when he wants the soundtrack to have acertain dramatic hitat particular moments.
But don’t worry,she pops back up again around two hours and twenty-three minutes in, about five minutes or so from the end of the movie. During this point,Paul and Jamis are having their knife fightand it’s not going very well for the Fremen. He’sscreaming and yellingafter Paul keeps beating him but not finishing the job over and over again.
Cotler’s vocals kick in,Paul hears a voice in his mind, focuses, and then darts andbackstabs Jamisas Cotler really goes for the rafters with her vocal performance. It all works to add a really hard impactful kick to the fall of one man and the rise of another.
The movie closes off withPaul being welcomed into the ranks of the Fremenas they head for safety at Sietch Tabr and the formation of their rebellion and Paul’s vengeance against the Emperor. At two hours and twenty-six minutes,the Fremen are marching into the desert, Cotler is screaming her last for the audience as we look to a future of more sand, big worms, and lots and lots of death.
In Dune: 2021 we hear the iconic vocals nine times.
Dune: Part Two
After thestellar reception of the soundtrackwhen the first film dropped you would be right in thinkingHans Zimmer brought Cotler back againfor another round. We first hear her reappearing with her signature vocals at around39 minutes in, which is quite the wait.
But it’s asChani and Paul have just downed a Harkonnen Ornithopter Gunshipduring a raid on a Spice Harvester.
Chani is running in the foreground,the Ornithopter smacks down in a fiery cascadeof scrap and body parts in the background, andCotlers finally woken up on her chair in the recording boothto start singing. The Spice Harvester explodes, and it’s a lovely end to a pretty solid action scene.
The next time Cotlers vocal range kicks in is around56 minutes inwhen Paul isriding an absolutely gigantic SandWormfor the first time. He lands both his hooks, and gets control, andCotler yodels into signify it as a dramatic and significant moment as we get to watch Paul stand and successfully drive his very big Worm Mobile.
We get further hints of Cotler aroundone hour and seven minuteswhen the Fremen launch avery successful ambush attackon the Harkonens. It’s not her usual big blast, instead, it’s part of asoft and ghostlychoir.
Then it’s a very long wait before Cotler comes back around, roughlyone hour and fifty-seven minutesin. This time chiming in asChani slaps Paul fordrinking the Waters of Life, slipping into a coma, and having to be woken up again by Chani. She storms off andCotler belts out another wailto signify it’s an important spiritualistic scene.
Our next visit from Cotler comes attwo hours and fourteen minutesin. Paul is at the crest of a rocky outcrop and about togive a speech to a large groupof Fremen Warriors. TheEmperor is on Arakisand the big showdown is about to begin as Paul sets off some Atreides Atomics andCotler warbles awayin the background.
It doesn’t overstay its welcome and the soundtrack moves on to a big exciting battle scene. The movie winds down withghostly vocals from Cotleraround two hours and thirty-three minutes.
Even though it’s no theme song, it hitsa nice emotional noteas the film ends andPaul’s great Holy Warbegins.
In Dune: Part Two we hear the iconic vocals four times.
