Scores
Listen To “Storm at Sea / Yggdrasill” By Robin Carolan & Sebastian Gainsborough From THE NORTHMAN
Composers Robin Carolan (Tri Angle records) and Sebastian Gainsborough (Vessel) were given a task of epic proportions when director Rob Eggers (The VVitch, The Lighthouse) asked them to create the soundtrack for his ambitious and highly anticipated new film The Northman, releasing on April 22nd via Back Lot Music and physically on July 1st via Sacred Bones Records. The Northman, Eggers action-filled epic, follows a young Viking prince on his quest to avenge his father’s murder and stars Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman, Claes Bang, Anya Taylor-Joy, Ethan Hawke, Björk, and Willem Dafoe.
“Robert wanted the world of The Northman to feel harsh and uncomfortable, and for everything to feel like it was caked in mud and dry blood, so it was crucial for the score to mirror that” said the composers.
They needed to make a soundtrack that both honored the immense research that had gone into the authenticity of this Viking-era story and complimented the cinematic maximalism of the film for a modern audience. The artists stretched themselves to the depths of their creativity and the resulting album is a gorgeous sonic tableaux that places the listener right in the center of the film. Today they’re sharing a glimpse of the soundtrack with “Storm at Sea / Yggdrasill.”
Listen via other streaming services here.
While arranging the score, the composers consulted musician and ethnographer Poul Høxbro for inspiration and insight into the history of Viking music. Having backgrounds in left field electronic music, Robin and Sebastian felt liberated by the constraint of using a small selection of musical tools for this piece. “Electronic music has almost limitless potential when it comes to making sounds and that’s obviously an incredible thing, but you can also go down the wormhole and get lost in it sometimes. There’s no risk of that happening when you only have a few primary instruments to draw upon.” Robin remarked.
The composers utilized traditional instruments such as the tagelharpa, langspil, kravik lyre, and säckpipa to build the cinematic world of The Northman, but attempted to experiment with what they had as much as possible in order to come up with something that still felt left field leaning. “One of the pieces we wrote was intended to emulate the sound of a bullroarer; an ancient, relatively humble looking instrument used in sacred rituals, or in battle to intimidate enemies. It makes a really disorienting roaring vibrato sound and was capable of creating insanely low frequencies that could travel for miles. For this we attempted to do the same thing, but the twist being that we used a huge, 40 piece string ensemble in order to do so. Recording that made for a pretty mad, suitably unsettling experience.” Robin says when asked about one of the more unique aspects of the soundtrack. Everyone involved put so much effort into both their research and their creativity and this richness is evident in every track. The album as a whole is a cinematic masterpiece of sound and ambiance, both gorgeous and disturbing, like the film it so beautifully accompanies.
Pre-order here: https://geni.us/TheNorthman
The Northman OST track list:
1. Approaching Hrafnsey
2. The King
3. Entering the Temple
4. Last Teardrop
5. Blood Tree
6. Strike, Brother
7. Escape
8. I Will Avenge You, Father
9. The Land of the Rus
10. A Burning Barn
11. Seeress
12. Raven’s Omen
14. Iceland
15. I Will Save You, Mother
16. Slave Work
17. Guðrún
18. Follow The Vixen’s Tail
19. He-Witch
20. Draugr
21. Mound Dweller
22. To The Games
23. Birch Woods
24. First Of Many
25. Trollish Sorcery
26. Svið Night, Part 1
27. Svið Night, Part 2
28. I Am Your Death
29. Come Morning
30. I Am His Vengeance
31. Óðinn
32. Valkyrie
33. Vestrahorn
34. Hidden Valley
35. Blood Tree, Part 2
36. Blóð Inside / I Choose Both
37. A Maiden King
38. The Wolf has Grown
39. The Gates of Hel / Slain by Iron
40. Hekla
41. Cut the Thread of Fate
42. Make Your Passage / Valhöll
43. Ættartré / End Credits
Focus Features will release THE NORTHMAN in theaters on April 22, 2022
Focus Features, in partnership with global gaming firm Loaded, announced Friday that it’s thinking differently about promotion for its upcoming movie The Northman, an action-filled epic from director Robert Eggers that follows a young Viking prince on his quest to avenge his father’s murder.
The firms collaborated to create a custom, playable RPG based on the thematic direction of the movie as a way to drive engagement around the film’s April 22nd release, releasing a trailer and partnering with content creators from Twitch and YouTube to promote their first entry into the metaverse.
Top gaming content creators will play “Vengeance: Inspired by The Northman” live on their streams to preview the experience, which estimates a 20+ hour play time for completion of main and side quest storylines. The public can also play the RPG starting today, for free, by entering island code 6089-1011-3272 into Fortnite.*
Global gaming firm Loaded pitched Focus Features on building the experience back in December 2021and has been working with Team Unite to build “Vengeance” since shortly thereafter. Loaded supports a cadre of top brands with gaming strategies and campaign execution, as well as manages some of the biggest creators in the gaming industry.
“We love how forward-thinking Focus has been as a partner,” said Loaded VP of Creative, Ashley Hsieh. “For a lot of brands, the future is scary enough that they continue to do what has worked in the past. When we get an opportunity to partner with a group who is willing to really think about things from a new perspective, it allows us to approach the market from a new direction. These are the types of engagements that change the paradigm, and we’re so proud to have been able to design this experience on behalf of the great team over at Focus.”
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