This month Hans Zimmer released something I’ve never really seen – a B-side to Dark Phoenix. Xperiments from Dark Phoenix is a compilation of select cuts from the over sixteen hours of material Zimmer and his team (a dozen other composers) recorded for the film but did not use. The compilation is a surprising upgrade, particularly as the release doesn’t get bogged down in incidental music or forced emotional cues. Instead, the composers clearly had fun tweaking and experimenting with the themes and ideas that eventually made their way onto the film’s official score. It’s an impressive release, and hopefully becomes a trend for future scores.
A Few Prominent Experimental Scores
Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury have quickly established themselves as some of the best fringe-experimental film composers, particularly with Ex-Machina and Annihilation. With 2019’s Luce, the duo makes their first foray into scoring a pure drama film. Fortunately, they keep their progressive edge, mixing protestant organs, hip-hop/electronic beats, and heavy doses of synth to create an air of melancholy and danger.
Another of today’s most prominent experimental film composers also released a score in August: Mica Levi and their score for Monos. Although Monos doesn’t use the same harsh discord as found in Under the Skin, it manages to maintain a similar discomfort, this time accomplished through repetition and rapidly ascending tones. Like Levi’s other scores, Monos sounds like alien music, albeit this time from a different species.
Years ago, I thought the Finnish symphonic metal band Apocalyptica were little more than a gimmick, by replacing guitar and bass with cellos. After listening to their new score for Aquarela, I’m happy to admit I was wrong. The band perfectly captures the delicate majesty of the documentary’s focus – water and ice – by drawing on their classical training through soft ambient passages and calming neoclassical interludes. Equally as impressive, however, is their ability to replicate the raw power and destructive capabilities of massive waves and glaciers through monumentally heavy melodies and chugging riffs. What’s amazing is the score is only twenty-four minutes, yet never feels disjointed or rushed despite the disparate array of genres present.
Two Disparate Scores of Traditional American Music
In a strange coincidence, Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am released barely a month before the writer’s death, with Kathryn Bostic’s score releasing shortly thereafter. The timing makes Bostic’s score all the more powerful, serving as a touching and soulful remembrance capped by the beautiful gospel track “High Above the Water.”
Zach Dawes, Jonathan Sadoff, and members of the Punch Brothers conspired together to create a fantastic bluegrass/Americana score for The Peanut Butter Falcon. Meandering acoustic guitar and banjo creates the feeling of a long-lost American youthful adventure reminiscent of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. Even in its darkest moments, the group manages a sense of optimism, fun, and triumph.