Drone and ambient have increasingly found their way into film music in recent years. However, most of these scores, like Annihilation or First Reformed, stay relatively approachable for those less comfortable with these genres. MMMD (pronounced Mohammad) take these genres […]
Short films present a unique challenge for film composers: their diminutive length makes the music (or lack thereof) all the more noticeable. It’s much easier for a short film to be overscored or for its music to be overwhelming and […]
Home is supposed to be safe, comforting, “where the heart is.” Horror films push against this, perhaps none more famously than The Amityville Horror, in which Lalo Schifrin’s score shows us that home is where hell is. Schifrin makes frightening […]
Folk music has long been a genre I’ve wanted to see employed more in film music, and Zviad Mgebry and Ben Wheeler’s score for And Then We Danced makes this wish come true. The duo draws heavily on (what I […]
It may not be surprising that listeners, when hearing a horror score, expect the music to be “scary.” But it’s not a necessity. Pino Donaggio, in his score for Carrie, focuses on the film’s sweet, tender moments rather than the […]