Este Haim Dives Into Her Process of Curating a Star-Studded Lineup of Classic Covers for ‘A Small Light’ Soundtrack

When Este Haim was approached to return connected nan executive euphony shaper domiciled connected National Geographic’s limited series A Small Light, she felt fresh to measurement retired of her comfortableness area and return charge.

“I’ve ever had this saying that group who opportunity ‘yes’ person adventures, group who opportunity ‘no’ play it safe and group who opportunity ‘maybe’ walk their full life saying ‘maybe.’ So I said yes,” nan HAIM vocalist and bassist tells Billboard of nan opportunity.

Turns out, she felt a typical relationship to nan show’s story. The bid is inspired by nan existent communicative of Anne Frank and follows nan carefree and opinionated Miep Gies (played by Bel Powley) arsenic she encounters Anne’s dada Otto Frank (Liev Schreiber), who asks her to thief hide his family from nan Nazis during WWII. “The producers and nan writers of nan show sewage successful interaction pinch maine astir doing a show astir Miep and I conjecture they benignant of assumed that I didn’t cognize who she was, but I knew very good who she was because I’ve publication nan diary of Anne Frank, screen to cover, a fistful of times,” Este recalls, noting that she publication The Diary of a Young Girl for nan first clip astatine conscionable 8 years old. “I thought that it was really absorbing nan measurement that they were telling nan communicative of Anne Frank and I jumped astatine nan chance to beryllium progressive successful a TV show that showed nan communicative done Miep’s eyes.”

For nan soundtrack, Este was tasked pinch creating updated versions of classical songs from nan 1930s and 1940s pinch her friends and chap musicians, thing that she was “super jazzed” about. “Pun intended,” she adds pinch a laugh.

“I’ve been listening to that euphony since I was a kid,” she says, noting that her great-grandmother, whom she affectionately calls “Bubby Blanche,” would play vinyl records for her arsenic a kid erstwhile she would sojourn her location successful Palm Springs, Calif. “We would perceive to nan The Andrews Sisters, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk — she was specified an avid euphony person and I’ve travel from a long, agelong statement of musicians, truthful I already had a instauration erstwhile it came to knowing and knowing nan material.”

Her passion for nan songs that influenced not only who she is arsenic a musician but besides history successful wide led to a robust Small Light soundtrack that features everyone from King Princess and Orville Peck putting their rotation connected Bing Crosby‘s “I’m Making Believe” and Angel Olsen’s rendition of Larry Clinton‘s “My Reverie” to Remi Wolf‘s return connected Nat King Cole‘s “Autumn Leaves” and Moses Sumney taking on Billie Holiday‘s “I’ll Be Seeing You.”

“Moses’ type of ‘I’ll Be Seeing You’ is truthful f—ing heartbreaking and beautiful,” Este gushes. “He knows really overmuch I emotion him and his artistry and his songwriting, but his sound is conscionable truthful incredibly, insanely beautiful. For him to person signed connected to this, I was complete nan moon.”

She adds that location was a fewer criteria for which artists she chose for nan project. “They needed to beryllium a vocalist that could really grip nan worldly because it’s not easy material,” she explains, earlier jokingly adding, “But besides I wanted group that I selfishly conscionable wanted to beryllium friends pinch and bent retired with.”

Este moreover worked pinch her sister, Danielle Haim, connected a rendition of Doris Day‘s “Till We Meet Again,” which she says was different than a regular HAIM signaling session. “We’re each producers successful our ain right, but this time, Danielle conscionable was benignant of looking astatine maine like, ‘Whatever you want to do,'” she said of creating nan opus pinch her related and bandmate. “It was different successful nan consciousness that we spell into each convention knowing that it’s a three-way democracy. This time, it was like, ‘This is your gig. I’m conscionable present to singing nan song.’ Thankfully, I cognize Danielle’s sound truthful well, truthful we vanished ‘Till We Meet Again’ in, like, a day.”

She continues, “Danielle is conscionable truthful f—ing talented and she has nan champion voice, and there’s a vulnerability to her sound that I knew would really lend itself to that song.”

As for what she hopes fans will return distant from A Small Light, Este is rooting for mundane group to guidelines up for what’s right. “Miep is simply a sparkling illustration of an mean female doing an bonzer thing,” she says. “Now much than ever, I deliberation that it’s important for group to guidelines up for what they judge successful and to besides protect their community.”

Listen to nan afloat A Small Light: Songs From nan Limited Series medium below, and watch nan show complete connected Disney+ and Hulu.