film scores
Composer Benjamin Wallfisch’s Compelling Score For THE INVISIBLE MAN LP Drops On March 4 – Listen To The Tracks Now
Back Lot Music has digitally released the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to Universal Pictures’ The Invisible Man, a Blumhouse/Goalpost production directed by Leigh Whannell (Upgrade, Insidious: Chapter 3) from his screenplay and screen story. The film’s original score is by GRAMMY® and Golden Globe-nominated composer Benjamin Wallfisch (Blade Runner 2049, IT). A vinyl release will be available March 4 through Mondo featuring two 180g discs housed inside a gatefold sleeve and an etching on side 4. The Invisible Man will be theatrically released in the U.S. on February 28th.
Starring Emmy Award winner Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale), The Invisible Man is a terrifying modern tale of obsession inspired by Universal’s classic Monster character.
Trapped in a violent, controlling relationship with a wealthy and brilliant scientist, Cecilia Kass (Moss) escapes in the dead of night and disappears into hiding. But when Cecilia’s abusive ex, Adrian Griffin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House), commits suicide and leaves her a generous portion of his vast fortune, Cecilia suspects his death was a hoax. As a series of eerie coincidences turn lethal, threatening the lives of those she loves, Cecilia’s sanity begins to unravel as she desperately tries to prove that she is being hunted by someone nobody can see.
Discussing his approach to the film’s score, Wallfisch said, “It was about using silence rhythmically. When there is music, the gestures and sonic attitude are sometimes so left-field and extreme that you almost don’t trust the score’s absence when it’s not there. As a kind of analogue to the presence of Adrian Griffin [the Invisible Man] in the film.”
Wallfisch continued, “Also, the orchestral instrumentation is deliberately constrained to strings- only so that the musicians were pushed to their max, without the support of a full orchestra. That choice was also an homage to one of my heroes, Bernard Herrmann and one of his masterpieces, the Psycho score.”
As the film progresses, Cecilia (Moss) devolves into questioning her every move, then grows into her power. The composer reflected that journey musically as well. “’Cecilia’s Theme,’ a simple melody for cello and strings, was written to be a musical reminder of her own sanity, as everything unravels around her,” Wallfisch said. “You only hear it a handful of times in the movie, at key turning points in the story. There is also a piano motif that recurs a few times, something building and insistent, meant to portray the way she still manages to hold on to who she really is, against all the odds, ultimately triumphing.”
Because Wallfisch was tasked with creating musical space for an antagonist who is literally not present, the composer had to factor into his choices for Adrian/the Invisible Man some elements that he’d not previously considered for a villain: “Rather than a melodic theme, we needed a signature sound for Adrian—something that just creeps up on you. The sonic for the Invisible Man himself is entirely electronic, and when it goes full tilt, we tried to push things as hard as they could possibly go.”
Streaming/Purchase: https://backlotmusic.ffm.to/theinvisibleman
Composer of David F. Sandberg’s box office #1 film SHAZAM!, Andy Muschietti’s IT, the most successful horror film of all time, and co-composer of Denis Villeneuve’s acclaimed Blade Runner 2049 (with Academy Award winner Hans Zimmer), Benjamin Wallfisch has worked on over 75 feature films and has received Golden Globe®, BAFTA®, two-time GRAMMY® and Emmy® nominations.
It was recently announced that Wallfisch will score the New Line/Warner Bros reboot of Mortal Kombat, which is slated for a 2021 release. His recent projects include It Chapter Two for New Line/Warner Bros., Neil Marshall’s Hellboy, Academy Award® Best Picture nominee Hidden Figures directed by Theodore Melfi (in collaboration with Pharrell Williams and Hans Zimmer) and David F. Sandberg’s box-office hits Annabelle: Creation and Lights Out.
On the invitation of Zimmer, he wrote ‘Variation 15,’ based on Edward Elgar’s ‘Enigma’ Variations, for Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk. Listen to it and then watch the scene below… it’s guaranteed to make you weep.
In recent years, Wallfisch has also scored Gore Verbinski’s A Cure for Wellness; the Steven Spielberg-produced short film Auschwitz directed by James Moll; King of Thieves, starring Michael Caine and directed by James Marsh; and Steven Knight’s Serenity, starring Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway. He also recently received a Primetime Emmy nomination in the Outstanding Music Composition for a Documentary Series or Special category for his score in Hostile Planet, a six-part series for National Geographic.
With over 25 albums of his music released to date on labels including Deutsche Grammophon and Epic Records, Wallfisch has performed live in over 100 concerts worldwide, leading orchestras such as the London Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the Sydney Symphony at venues including the Hollywood Bowl, Sydney Opera House and Royal Festival Hall.
He has collaborated, recorded and performed his music with artists including Lang Lang, Herbie Hancock and Yuja Wang, and has over 50 concert music commissions to his name. He has also collaborated three times with Pharrell Williams, including a live performance at the 2015 Grammy Awards and partnered with Adele, arranging her 2017 Grammy performance of George Michael’s “Fast Love.”
A member of the BAFTA Academy since 2009, Wallfisch was appointed an associate of the Royal Academy of Music in London in 2014. In 2017, he was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences®.
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TRACK LIST
- Cobolt
- Escape
- He’s Gone
- This Is What He Does
- We’ve Got That In Common
- Make It Rain
- Attack
- Why Me
- The Suit
- Asylum
- He’s Behind You
- House Fight
- It’s All a Lie
- Surprise
- Denouement
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