How the ‘Rye Lane’ Soundtrack Captures The Sound of Peckham

Peckham has been a haven for simultaneous culture and chaos, long before the gentrifiers arrived. The buzz of Rye Lane market; the loud music played from cars; the aunties asking you whether you want to do your hair, relentless in their pursuit. It’s an area of south London that can lay claim to being the birthplace of rapper Giggs, dubstep royalty Katy B and Alan Lancaster, the late guitarist for legendary British rock band Status Quo.

‘Rye Lane’, directed by Raine Allen-Miller, is a film that rejoices in the messiness of romance and relationships, and uses Peckham as its backdrop. Visually, it’s a celebration of the area – it doesn’t shy away from the strange nuances of Peckham, as well as the bits that make it the area that people love. Sonically, the soundtrack has the job of tying together the previously mentioned culture and chaos of Peckham and Kwes, the film’s composer, attempts this in a number of ways. The result? An auditory celebration of a south-London hotspot, with references to the both the storyline and the vibe that defines Peckham so distinctly.

‘Rye Lane’ follows Yas (Vivian Oparah) and Dom (David Jonsson), two twenty-somethings both reeling from bad break-ups, connecting over the course of an eventful day in South London – helping each other deal with their nightmare exes, and potentially restoring their faith in romance. The soundtrack features songs from south London artists such as Stormzy, Sampha and Kwes himself, and these help to add colour to an already bright Peckham. Any film buff will be delighted with the use of music in this movie. A soundtrack or the score used throughout a film has the job of elevating the more standard elements of a film – the writing, the direction, the set production. In some cases, the soundtrack underlines the emotion of the film. It’s the undercurrent that defines what your mood should be at particular points or particular scenes, and ‘Rye Lane’ uses the music to do this seamlessly. 

One particular scene sees main characters Yas and Dom perform karaoke together in a friend’s bar in Peckham, where they perform Salt n Pepa’s ‘Shoop’, reflective of the intertwined nature of the area’s demographics. Peckham veteran residents will have a view of the area that has been shaped by different events than those that are younger or newer to the area, and the use of a song from the 90’s, performed by characters who were likely only born in that decade, is a nice nod to the youthfulness of Peckham that has undoubtedly been defined by older residents.

A soundtrack that features both Bette Midler’s ‘The Rose’ and A Tribe Called Quest’s ‘Buggin Out’ alongside Stormzy’s ‘Vossi Bop’ is also a form of geographic insight. The mixture of international and domestic artists, as well as older and newer, is a gorgeous reflection of Peckham as an area. The soundtrack also features mellower tracks penned and performed by the film’s composer Kwes, with features from the Tirzah and Sampha. Used effectively to alter a viewer’s mood and take from the ‘laugh-out-loud’ scenes, to the more contemplative ones, the soundtrack does a stellar job of transporting any cinemagoer from the marginally comfortable seats at a local Odeon, to the familiar and frenzied Rye Lane in Peckham.  

Rye Lane is out in cinemas across the UK now.

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