{"id":116518,"date":"2019-06-28T06:00:09","date_gmt":"2019-06-28T11:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/?post_type=music_roundup&p=116518"},"modified":"2019-06-28T09:52:36","modified_gmt":"2019-06-28T14:52:36","slug":"film-score-trends","status":"publish","type":"music_roundup","link":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/mr\/film-score-trends\/","title":{"rendered":"2019\u2019s Most Important Film Score Trend: Experimental Ambient Music"},"content":{"rendered":"

Use experimental ambient royalty-free tracks<\/a> to put your project in the same category as today’s most talked-about films in 2019.<\/h2>\n

Superheroes will always rise and fall to the sounds of bombastic brass sections, and we will always cheer. The historical figures of high-brow Oscar-bait will always live and die to the sounds of sweeping strings, and we will always weep accordingly.<\/p>\n

While there\u2019s obviously nothing wrong with using a traditional score to support your footage<\/a>, today\u2019s most groundbreaking productions are approaching movie music from a more experimental place. Content creators looking to stand out and push the boundaries of storytelling should take note \u2014 and then explore the curated playlist of mood-altering ambient royalty-free tracks<\/a> at the end of this post.<\/p>\n

\"2019\u2019s<\/a>

Image via s_maria<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n

Experimental Film Scores: A Brief History<\/h3>\n

Using music in a way that makes it almost more of a character than a complement is certainly trending, and it’s an approach that’s been building steam for a while. Lalo Schifren’s soundtrack<\/a> to THX 1138<\/a><\/em> features long, droning passages that mirror the drug-induced emotional flatness experienced by the citizens of George Lucas’s<\/a> stark dystopian future. 1978\u2019s Jubilee<\/a><\/em> (in which a time-hopping Queen Elizabeth I visits punk-rock London) boasts a score by avant-garde legend Brian Eno<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2007’s There Will Be Blood<\/a><\/em> saw Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood<\/a> use screeching, dissonant violins to express the unnerving desperation that defined Paul Thomas Anderson’s<\/a> brutal West. Soon after, David Fincher<\/a> forged a creative partnership with Trent Reznor<\/a> and Atticus Ross<\/a> that stretched across The Social Network<\/a> <\/em>(2010), The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo<\/em><\/a> (2011), and Gone Girl <\/a><\/em>(2014). The results were soundtracks that felt more like moods than music.<\/p>\n

In recent years, experimental ambient scores have become de rigueur<\/em> for smart genre filmmakers. Mica Levi’s<\/a> score to 2014’s Under the Skin<\/a><\/em> is as atonal as Scarlett Johansson’s<\/a> character is alien, while Ben Salisbury<\/a> and Geoff Barrow’s<\/a> music for 2015’s Ex Machina<\/a><\/em> and 2018’s Annihilation<\/a><\/em> translates Alex Garland’s<\/a> visions of isolation and body horror into sound.<\/p>\n

\"2019\u2019s<\/a>

Image via best_vector<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n

Before his untimely death in 2018, J\u00f3hann J\u00f3hannsson’s<\/a> compositions for films like Prisoners<\/em><\/a>, Sicario<\/a><\/em>, and Arrival<\/a><\/em> earned him a reputation as an innovative new force in film scores<\/a>. Regarding J\u00f3hannsson’s work on 2018’s Mandy<\/a><\/em>, Andy Beta of Pitchfork<\/em><\/a>\u00a0said, “the late composer and experimental musician revels in extreme sounds, delving into black metal, menacing ambient, doom drone, and piercing orchestrations.”<\/p>\n

There’s a good chance that the next milestone in this tinnitus-inducing timeline will be July 2019’s Midsommar<\/a><\/em> from director Ari Aster<\/a>. After tasking Colin Stetson<\/a> to compose the abrasive white-knuckle soundtrack to 2018’s Hereditary<\/em><\/a>, Aster tapped Bobby Krlic \u2014 aka The Haxan Cloak<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 to score his sophomore effort. The Midsommar<\/em> press release promises “wordless, atonal, ritualistic songs\u201d and reveals that Aster wrote his script to Krlic’s music. Pretty neat.<\/p>\n

If you’re ready to join today’s top film talent in getting experimental, dive into the playlist of experimental ambient tracks below. We’ve selected music to represent a lot of the vibes we mentioned above. Some are chill and melodic. Some are distinctly the opposite. Regardless, each of these royalty-free songs can be yours forever with a simple Standard License<\/a>, and all of them present an opportunity to do something unexpected with your next project.<\/p>\n

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