# Annihilation Score - Insane music for an insane movie.



## StevenMcDonald (Feb 26, 2018)

Saw this movie last night and MAN, what a weird one. The more I think about it, the more I appreciate it. I'm always really excited for more "smart" hard scifi, and even more so when there's music to go along with it. I was a little disappointed by how little the score was featured in this movie, but the pivotal scene in the last 20 minutes is almost completely silent while set to this track:



It's a bit long and definitely not everyone's cup of tea, but this music is absolutely amazing to me. It's not just drones, but the layers of swirling sounds up high, gritty and distorted horn-thing down low and haunting voices. It all works together so well, especially when watching the insanely weird scene it goes along with. I would kill to see a behind the scenes of creating this score. Sound design like this is my jam.

Anyone else see this movie? Any other thoughts on the score? I'd never heard of Ben Salisbury or Geoff Barrow before, but I hope they can keep working on projects like this.


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## PaulBrimstone (Feb 26, 2018)

StevenMcDonald said:


> Saw this movie last night and MAN, what a weird one. The more I think about it, the more I appreciate it. I'm always really excited for more "smart" hard scifi, and even more so when there's music to go along with it. I was a little disappointed by how little the score was featured in this movie, but the pivotal scene in the last 20 minutes of the movie is almost completely silent while set to this track:
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They've been around for a while, @StevenMcDonald. Some info here:
https://slate.com/culture/2018/02/a...-explains-the-musical-cue-from-the-alien.html
Their Alien motif at Soundcloud 2:40 isn't exactly DECCG from Close Encounters, but it seems to follow the tradition.


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## StevenMcDonald (Feb 26, 2018)

PaulBrimstone said:


> They've been around for a while, @StevenMcDonald. Some info here:
> https://slate.com/culture/2018/02/a...-explains-the-musical-cue-from-the-alien.html
> Their Alien motif at Soundcloud 2:40 isn't exactly DECCG from Close Encounters, but it seems to follow the tradition.



I enjoyed reading that interview. Thanks for the link! I distinctly remember when I heard that motif in the trailers thinking "That's really cool, too bad this is probably just from a trailer music house and not in the film" as that's what we're used to. Then when I listened to the preview of "The Alien" a few days before the movie came out I got really excited.


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## Greg (Feb 26, 2018)

StevenMcDonald said:


> I enjoyed reading that interview. Thanks for the link! I distinctly remember when I heard that motif in the trailers thinking "That's really cool, too bad this is probably just from a trailer music house and not in the film" as that's what we're used to. Then when I listened to the preview of "The Alien" a few days before the movie came out I got really excited.



That bass sound caught my ear too! I instantly thought that has got to be from the soundtrack. This is some of the coolest synth work ive ever heard. So much inspiration!!


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## patrick76 (Feb 26, 2018)

StevenMcDonald said:


> Saw this movie last night and MAN, what a weird one. The more I think about it, the more I appreciate it. I'm always really excited for more "smart" hard scifi, and even more so when there's music to go along with it. I was a little disappointed by how little the score was featured in this movie, but the pivotal scene in the last 20 minutes is almost completely silent while set to this track:
> 
> 
> 
> ...




I'm looking forward to seeing this because it was done by the same guy and same composers that did Ex Machina.


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## blougui (Feb 26, 2018)

The novel is brilliant. Actually reading the 2nd of this trilogy.


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## Scoremixer (Feb 27, 2018)

Lucky enough to play a very small part in the making of this score.

That's Geoff Barrow from Portishead, so there's a long history of making excellent noises there. Quite what he and Ben are doing with the synths is a closely guarded secret, but it's definitely not all ITB!

The music was a long time in the making, and the film even longer, so I'm glad the end sequence and it's insane noises made it through largely unscathed. The music (like the film) is the kind of thing that makes film execs nervous, so I'd urge anyone in the US to go and see it on the biggest screen they can. Unfortunately it doesn't have theatrical distribution in the UK (and maybe Europe too?) but it'll be on Netflix very soon.


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## mac (Feb 27, 2018)

Scoremixer said:


> Unfortunately it doesn't have theatrical distribution in the UK (and maybe Europe too?) but it'll be on Netflix very soon.



March 12th


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## blougui (Feb 27, 2018)

I hope the flick addresses every questions the story raises : Garland stated he didn’t intend to film the trilogy - and if his movies goes directly to streaming one could doubt the studio would plan a follower...


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