MORTAL Film Score (OST)

[Marcus 390]

Greetings, all of you!

 

I wanted to share with you my first major feature score, written for André Øvredal's MORTAL.

 

The film will be out in theaters worldwide this year, and the soundtrack is already up on Spotify (and elsewhere eventually; CD will be available as of next week).

 

It's been a great privilege working on this, as André Øvredal is such an incredibly gifted director (Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Troll Hunter, The Autopsy of Jane Doe), and also deeply passionate about film music.

 

The score is performed by the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra and the Budapest Film Orchestra, and features solo work from Nils Økland (Hardanger Fiddle), Ditte Bræin (Soprano) and Kåre Nordstoga (Organ).

 

Hope you'll enjoy!

 

https://open.spotify.com/album/4ULpjMKTlWxQAZZyxvEJpV?si=TwRrf8y0SKOu3TSsRjyQCg

[Marcus 390]

Seems it's also up on YouTube.

Here's a little teaser of sorts:

 

 

[Faleel 5,326]

Liked what I heard so far.

[Marcus 390]

Another few items:

 

 

 

 

[Marcus 390]

Another few items:

 

 

 

 

Here's one of the score's several main themes:

 

And a lengthy  finale and end credits suite, featuring concert settings of most of the score's thematic material:

 

 

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

This is....superb! I bought a copy off iTunes and convinced Mrs. Blume to do it do it too.
 

Congratulations Marcus. 

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

One comment I have is that I prefer your Marcus Paus voice to your Marcus Paus channeling John Williams voice. 

[Marcus 390]

Thank you.

 

What's interesting to me about that, is that save for the brassy send off of one of the main themes towards the end of the credits suite, I'm probably as unconscious of any channelling as I am of my own voice, whatever that may be...

 

I guess any voice is an expression of one's experience, preferences and personality. 

But from a writing perspective, especially in a film score, you just respond to the challenges at hand. Which means that it's all just music, regardless of its connotations.

 

Having said that, Williams has been a deeply formative influence on my writing, and even though an influence is something you write your way through, some "residue" will inevitably remain, no matter how sublimated that influence becomes...

 

 

 

[thestat 342]

Hi Marcus,

 

There's some brilliant work here - love the stuff in Finale and End Credits. Some nice massive Goldenthalian flourishes there. The other material seems to be going for a Hildur Gudnasdottir type lament - but with more expansive orchestration. The final minute or so of Revelation is brilliant!

 

Øvredal is a massively talented director and I await the day he gets his first DC/Marvel commission - I was actually expecting him to get the Dr Strange sequel (on the basis of Scary Stories.....) before Raimi came on board but he is one of those 'indie' (ie. very mainstream directors in their home markets) who will be snatched up by a major brand soon, unless he keeps working with Del Toro.....and thus doing awesome and interesting films.

 

I guess for me, the recording quality is strange. I have listened to this on Spotify and Youtube and there's a distinct 'Robert Folk recording in Hungary in 1988' sound to a lot of the work. What happened? Or is it intentional, ie Giacchino style homage to the 1970s sound  - the orchestra seems compressed and flat and while I can hear the flourishes in the composition it sounds a bit like this (one can hear how great it could be, but the recording quality makes it sound a bit like a dodgy bootleg from the late 90s - sorry to say):

 

Still really impressive work. I hope you get many more chances - I am confident you will.

That section from 1:45 - 2:45 is fucking awesome brass mayhem. McCreary's Godzilla comes to mind - orchestral fireworks.

 

 

Still, I can barely hear all the levels of the orchestra - they seem to bleed into one another, especially when it transitions to that awesome Don Davis type flight music at 2:50, for 4 seconds - I mean, the flutes and the cymbals, the brass and the strings do not meld together here - it sounds like a youtube mobile phone capture of a symphonic concert........Dude with proper mastering this would be legendary!

[Marcus 390]

Greetings, and thanks for your thoughtful comments. 

 

We were definitely conscious about avoiding a more pristine "Hollywood" sound aesthetic, as André wanted this film to be far removed from mainstream fantasy drama fare.

 

So I guess the aesthetic we went for is in some ways a more 'contemporary concert' approach.

 

Having said that, we were tasked with the challenge of having to mediate two separate orchestras and recording venues due to scheduling, and subsequently try to find a balance between the two, which meant minimizing the differences, and I suppose that might account for some of the aspects you take issue with 

 

Glad you seem to enjoy the music regardless, and would certainly welcome opportunities to embrace different recording aesthetics in the future, should they arise.

 

Best,

Marcus

[Marcus 390]

The film is now out, and the score is available from all platforms, as well as in physical format.

 

It's been an incredible journey, and I am so happy and grateful to have been part of it.

 

The soundtrack album was a particular joy to assemble, as it gave me the opportunity to shape a generous selection (almost 80 minutes) of music written and recorded throughout the scoring process into a unified whole.

 

All in all, I penned about 4 hours and 15 minutes of music for this score throughout the editing process, and the soundtrack reflects my own musical preference from all of these.

 

We've been blessed with some truly stunning orchestral and solo performances.

 

The film will hit the international market later this year, and I hope many of you get to see it.

 

Here's another cue, featuring the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, and the rich, beautiful acoustics of their new concert hall:

 

 

 

 

 

[Faleel 5,326]

Jon Broxton did a short review of this: https://moviemusicuk.us/2021/01/22/under-the-radar-round-up-2020-part-vi/

[GerateWohl 4,319]

I didn't recognize this thread before and I think the work you presented here @Marcus is really brillant and I personally wonder why this didn't make it into one of the best of 2020 lists or at least got an honorable mention here in the forum. I will definitely check out the movie. 

Keep up the great work!