Nicholas Britell & Brandon Roberts - ANDOR (2022-2025)

[Disco Stu 15,509]

It was almost certainly deliberate.

[Jurassic Shark 14,944]

Deliberately expensive. 

[CGCJ 551]

 

[Tallguy 5,606]

54 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Deliberately expensive. 

 

I cannot imagine that that was a financial call. Rebels cost a tiny fraction of what Andor did and it's wallpapered with JW's themes. (Most of them are even from Star Wars!)

[Jurassic Shark 14,944]

Kind of like the piece JW wrote for that Disney amusement park that they played all the time. Oh wait they didn't. 

[MedigoScan 368]

Its not like Mandalorian used JW themes either (in the first season at least)

[Tallguy 5,606]

Of course what I really wanted was an entire series of music where the central motif was Williams' Imperial theme from Star Wars.

 

(I'm not kidding! That would have been awesome!)

[Gabriel Bezerra 628]

Yeah, I was dead wrong...

 

There's at least 6 themes I could identify listening to the albuns a couple of times:

Andor A | Main Titles / Heroes (Sometimes used when Andor isn't even onscreen)

Andor B | Past-Present Suite / Main Titles / Your Mother is Dead / Manifesto

Luthen | Luthen Rael / Luthen of Coruscant

Empire | ISB / I Thought He'd Be Here

Defiance (?) | Kleya / Maarva's Rebellion (All over the later half of the series, thought it was a rebellion theme, but the last track of Vol. 3 named another one Rebellion)

Rebellion | My Name Is Kino Loy / The Rebellion Suite

 

Possible themes:
Syril Suite / Mon Mothma / B2 / Bix Caleen

 

Nice tracks that use 2 or more themes:

Full Fondor | Luthen / Andor A / Empire

The Rono Trawler | Defiance / Andor A / Empire

One Way Out - Parts 5-7 / Battle | Empire / Defiance / Andor A

 

1 hour ago, Tallguy said:

Of course what I really wanted was an entire series of music where the central motif was Williams' Imperial theme from Star Wars.

 

(I'm not kidding! That would have been awesome!)

I was over the moon when Bad Batch used it. Rebels should have used it instead of the Imperial March, it got a little bit redundant when Vader came around.

[Tallguy 5,606]

8 minutes ago, Gabriel Bezerra said:

I was over the moon when Bad Batch used it. Rebels should have used it instead of the Imperial March, it got a little bit redundant when Vader came around.

 

Rebels used it a fair amount. IIRC more in the first season and less as the series went on. Then Rogue One used it for Vader and Solo used it very briefly.

[Stark 682]

Rebels’ first season was largely mismatched cues from ANH, the later seasons’ scores became much more musically organized.

[Tallguy 5,606]

10 minutes ago, Stark said:

Rebels’ first season was largely mismatched cues from ANH, the later seasons’ scores became much more musically organized.

 

You seem to be saying that like it's bad.

[Stark 682]

Just now, Tallguy said:

 

You seem to be saying that like it's bad.

It was bad! Imagine all the wrong Star Wars cues with a worse orchestra/samples!

[Tallguy 5,606]

22 minutes ago, Stark said:

It was bad! Imagine all the wrong Star Wars cues with a worse orchestra/samples!

 

I loved it. I'm sure there's a dozen other places where if someone did the same thing I would complain to high hell. But it made the whole thing feel like the best Star Wars adventure we'd had since 1980.

[Oswin Pond 59]

15 hours ago, Tallguy said:

 

You seem to be saying that like it's bad.

 

Honestly it was. That made me quit the show at episode 1 because I couldn't bear listening to a discounted Williams. I eventually powered through but man the Rebels soundtrack is probably my least favorite score out of all the Star Wars content. It's on par with the EPIC VERSION or SLOWED AND REVERBED you see on youtube that butcher the OG tracks.

[rough cut 1,774]

So I’m going to watch this over the holidays. Seems like a good way to kill some time. I know that opinions are divided, but even if I don’t love it - how bad can it be?

 

Also, this. (Sorry if it has been posted before.)

 

 

[MedigoScan 368]

Divided?

The show is getting praise everywhere last time I checked.

[Tallguy 5,606]

He didn't say EVENLY divided.

 

Good luck @rough cut. For my own self, I loved it.

[Gabriel Bezerra 628]

19 hours ago, rough cut said:

So I’m going to watch this over the holidays. Seems like a good way to kill some time. I know that opinions are divided, but even if I don’t love it - how bad can it be?

 

Also, this. (Sorry if it has been posted before.)

 

 

Here's a version with the released tracks:

I hope you have a good time with the show.

[Disco Stu 15,509]

For some reason I found this podcast about Britell’s score deeply irritating and didn’t make it through the whole thing, but I’m sure those of you who like the score will enjoy it.

 

https://strongsongspodcast.com/episode/the-music-of-star-wars-andor

[tomsmoviemadness 4,234]

I find this already irritating:

"Look, sometimes a TV soundtrack is so good that you have no choice but to make a whole podcast episode about it."

 

All the incredible TV scores this year, and then you pick this one to highlight. That's baffling. I like Britell, but Andor's score is not amomg the best scores of this year at all, amd other scores should warrant episodes lile this.

[Disco Stu 15,509]

Well he’s not a score podcast, he’s a pop podcast so this is veering outside of his usual lane

[thestat 496]

The Brittell score is what it is - Gilroy made JNH detonalise......

 

This is what an unbridled Brittell might have done:

 

 

Jesus, this is good:

 

Amazing command of orchestra and melodic subterfuge - just fucking brilliant!

[Tallguy 5,606]

On 17/12/2022 at 7:54 AM, JNHFan2000 said:

I find this already irritating:

"Look, sometimes a TV soundtrack is so good that you have no choice but to make a whole podcast episode about it."

 

All the incredible TV scores this year, and then you pick this one to highlight. That's baffling. I like Britell, but Andor's score is not amomg the best scores of this year at all, amd other scores should warrant episodes lile this.

 

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing, but I wonder what makes them say that? I mean, it's a fantastic show and part of that is certainly what the score does. Does that make it a fantastic score?

[artguy360 2,011]

I'm randomly listening to this score and I don't think it's half bad. The music is sonically interesting, works really well in the show and adds greatly to the show's aesthetic, and, if I'm in the right mood, it's enjoyable to listen to on its own. I won't listen to it often, but it's not half bad when I do.

[mikal_grig 556]

 

Nicholas Britell at the Celebration? Nice

[Gabriel Bezerra 628]

Makes sense since it features proto versions of a few themes

[CGCJ 551]

Some cue information! (courtesy of GEMA):

Spoiler

Kassa
B2 (01:23)
We Begin (Time Grappler) (00:21)
Rix Road (01:39)
Bix Caleen (00:43)
Kenari Council (01:54)
Bix Has a Secret (01:07)
Kenari Male Wanted For Questioning (00:52)
The Cassian Way (01:34)
Niamos! (Morlana Club Mix) (01:56)
Morlana Drop (01:44)
Pre-Mor Shakedown (00:40)

 

That Would Be Me
The Night Before (01:45)
Luthen Rael (01:23)
We Begin (Time Grappler) (00:28)
The Kenari War Cry (02:58)
Pilgrim (01:38)
End of Day (01:11)
Who Else Knows? (01:48)

 

Reckoning
Corpos (01:33)
In Their House/Who Are You? (02:10)
The Reckoning (01:32)
Past/Present Suite (03:35)
Mirror (02:08)

 

Aldahni
Where's My Starpath Unit? (00:39)
Luthen of Coruscant (01:12)
Syril Suite (01:41)
Mon Mothma (02:07)
I Came For You (02:23)
ISB (00:25)
Blue Kyber (01:20)

 

The Axe Forgets
The Valley (02:04)
If I Was Them (01:15)

 

The Eye
Get Down! (00:21)
No Turning Back (03:13)
The Vault - Parts 1 and 2 (07:08)
Aldahni Eye Chant, Part 1 (01:03)
The Vault - Parts 3 and 4 (02:46)
The Rono Trawler (01:59)
Climb! (01:47)
The Morning After (01:11)

 

Announcement
Niamos! (Coruscant Lounge Mix) (04:09)
Maarva's Rebellion (03:15)
Niamos! (Galaxy Mix) (00:22)
Tourists Don't Run (02:15)
Six Year Sentence (01:37)
Fuel Purity (01:12)
Kleya (01:17)
I Though He'd Be Here (01:04)

 

Narkina 5
Unit 5-2-D (06:13)
Niamos! (Coruscant Lounge Mix) (02:11)
Thirty Shifts Later (01:00)
Shut It Down (02:10)
Move! (00:40)
Narkina 5 (00:53)

 

Rix Road

Morlana Drop (00:40)

To the Sky (00:49)

Bix Sings to the Sky (00:02)

 

[Gabriel Bezerra 628]

On 09/12/2022 at 9:42 AM, Gabriel Bezerra said:

There's at least 6 themes I could identify listening to the albuns a couple of times:

Andor A | Main Titles / Heroes (Sometimes used when Andor isn't even onscreen)

Andor B | Past-Present Suite / Main Titles / Your Mother is Dead / Manifesto

Luthen | Luthen Rael / Luthen of Coruscant

Empire | ISB / I Thought He'd Be Here

Defiance (?) | Kleya / Maarva's Rebellion (All over the later half of the series, thought it was a rebellion theme, but the last track of Vol. 3 named another one Rebellion)

Rebellion | My Name Is Kino Loy / The Rebellion Suite

 

Possible themes:
Syril Suite / Mon Mothma / B2 / Bix Caleen

 

Nice tracks that use 2 or more themes:

Full Fondor | Luthen / Andor A / Empire

The Rono Trawler | Defiance / Andor A / Empire

One Way Out - Parts 5-7 / Battle | Empire / Defiance / Andor A

After my rewatch I listened to my playlist that became a medley and I recognized that I made a few mistakes and identified/confirmed some more motifs.

 

I never thought a score could sound "hazy", but there's something about the orchestra that sounds "clouded". I don't think it's a wet mix it just seems to be there to stop the orchestra from reaching its potential, it's weird.

 

Some tracks like Your Mother Is Dead sound great, and some like One Way Out - Parts 5-7 sound in-between. So I figure it could symbolize the grip of the Empire, suppressing the orchestra (Narkina 5 has no orchestra until the last episode), but that seems far-fetched. I know Tony Gilroy doesn't like the score to draw attention to itself and do its job properly, so it might be it, I don't know, if it were a decision made in post by him it wouldn't be on the albums.

 

Andor | Main Titles / Heroes

The rising motif is used frequently, sometimes when Andor isn't even onscreen.

Spoiler

 

data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==

 

 

 

The People of Ferrix | Rix Road / Manifesto / Eulogy

I named it Andor B previously but it relates more to Ferrix than anything else, a repeating motif for strings mostly.

Spoiler

 

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Luthen | Luthen Rael / Luthen of Coruscant

I like this one. It starts very gently but then turns a bit dark in the end.

Spoiler

 

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Empire | ISB / I Thought He'd Be Here

Weird that this and Vader's motif from Kenobi are very similar.

Spoiler

 

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Rebellion | Kleya / Maarva's Rebellion

I'll call it what it is, I don't care. It takes over the title cards midway through Season 1 and there it also merges with Andor's theme, his go up, this one goes down. Wouldn't be a surprise if the themes combined were what Brittell played on the piano for Gilroy and Kennedy.

Spoiler

Spoiler

*it opens with The People of Ferrix. The theme starts around 1:25.

 

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Anthem | My Name Is Kino Loy / The Rebellion Suite

Emotion, emote, feel!

Spoiler

 

data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==

 

Mon Mothma | Mon Mothma

This one is very abstract, I wouldn't even consider it a motif, but it shows up frequently with little to no variation.

Spoiler

 

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Syril | Syril Suite

A quite subdued one, it doesn't appear as often, only a couple of times.

Spoiler

 

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Narkina 5 | Never More Than Twelve / Make It Look Good

Spoiler

 

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Funeral March | Manifesto / Forming Up / Unto Stone We Are

Spoiler

 

data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==

 

 

 

Main Title Theme | Rebellion / Andor

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

Past-Present Suite / Your Mother is Dead / Eulogy | Andor / The People of Ferrix

Spoiler

 

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Full Fondor | Luthen / Andor / Empire

Spoiler

 

 

 

data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==

 

Corpos | Corpos / Luthen / The People of Ferrix

Spoiler

 

 

 

data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==

 

One Way Out - Parts 5-7 | Empire / Rebellion / Andor

Spoiler

 

data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==

 

 

[DangerMotif 1,275]

8 hours ago, Gabriel Bezerra said:

Empire | ISB / I Thought He'd Be Here

Weird that this and Vader's motif from Kenobi are very similar.

Blows my mind that barley anyone is talking about it

[tomsmoviemadness 4,234]

Wonder what this will do to the sound of the score?

 

Brandon Roberts Co-Scoring Disney+’s ‘Andor’ Season 2

 

Quote

Brandon Roberts has joined the music team of Lucasfilm’s Disney+ original series Andor. The composer is sharing scoring credit on the second season of the show with Nicholas Britell who was unable to commit to the entire season due to a personal family matter. 

 

[DarthDementous 1,424]

5 hours ago, tomsmoviemadness said:

Wonder what this will do to the sound of the score?

 

Brandon Roberts Co-Scoring Disney+’s ‘Andor’ Season 2

 

 

 

he seems to have a lot of additional music credits so I suspect he's going to be an extension of the Britell sound for Andor more than bring his own voice to it, could be wrong though

[Tallguy 5,606]

In a surprise twist the second season of Andor will be scored exclusively with samples from the Disney Star Wars animated series Rebels.

[DarthDementous 1,424]

2 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

In a surprise twist the second season of Andor will be scored exclusively with samples from the Disney Star Wars animated series Rebels.

someone needs to make that edit, it would be the most horribly jarring but hilarious thing ever

[Meredith McKay 7,843]

Music or vocal samples?

[enderdrag64 1,419]

[Knight of Ren 1,269]

As expected, Roberts will mostly continue with Britell's sound and themes. It would be really weird if that was suddenly thrown away in favor of a different musical style.

 

I'm quite looking forward to it, as I've grown to like the score a lot more than I did when it first released. And since it supposedy connects with Rogue One, I wonder if we'll get some musical references to Giacchino's score!

[DarthDementous 1,424]

1 hour ago, Knight of Ren said:

As expected, Roberts will mostly continue with Britell's sound and themes. It would be really weird if that was suddenly thrown away in favor of a different musical style.

 

I'm quite looking forward to it, as I've grown to like the score a lot more than I did when it first released. And since it supposedy connects with Rogue One, I wonder if we'll get some musical references to Giacchino's score!

I would very much enjoy hearing some new variations on Krennic's theme

[Gabriel Bezerra 628]

Krennic's isn't that much different than Brittell's own Empire motif so there would be no reason not to use it, but I doubt it will. The live action shows have this weird thing with established themes, they'll probably all be cameos in the last episode.

[Jim Ware 586]

15 hours ago, tomsmoviemadness said:

Wonder what this will do to the sound of the score?

 

Brandon Roberts Co-Scoring Disney+’s ‘Andor’ Season 2

 

 

Brandon Roberts has been writing additional music as part of Marco Beltrami’s team for quite some team. I’m looking forward to this!

[DarthDementous 1,424]

13 hours ago, Gabriel Bezerra said:

Krennic's isn't that much different than Brittell's own Empire motif so there would be no reason not to use it, but I doubt it will. The live action shows have this weird thing with established themes, they'll probably all be cameos in the last episode.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by this, they're pretty different to my ear
 

 

although in saying that, I can see the similarities to the creeping string-focused Andor Imperial theme with this B section here, particularly in its slower variations. that would probably fit the most seamlessly into the Andor Season 2 sound I think
 

 

[Jay 42,358]

Film Music Reporter has updated their story.

 

Before:

Brandon Roberts [...] has joined the music team of Lucasfilm’s Disney+ original series Andor. The composer is sharing scoring credit on the second season of the show with Nicholas Britell who was unable to commit to the entire season due to a personal family matter.

After:

Brandon Roberts [...] has joined Disney+’s original series Andor as the show’s new composer. He has scored most of the episodes of the Lucasfilm production’s second season. Season 1 composer Nicholas Britell who was unable to commit to the entire season due to a personal family matter has scored two episodes of the new season and is being credited for providing “additional themes” on the rest of the episodes.

https://filmmusicreporter.com/2025/04/11/brandon-roberts-scoring-disneys-andor-season-2/

[DarthDementous 1,424]

6 hours ago, Jay said:

Film Music Reporter has updated their story.

 

Before:

Brandon Roberts [...] has joined the music team of Lucasfilm’s Disney+ original series Andor. The composer is sharing scoring credit on the second season of the show with Nicholas Britell who was unable to commit to the entire season due to a personal family matter.

After:

Brandon Roberts [...] has joined Disney+’s original series Andor as the show’s new composer. He has scored most of the episodes of the Lucasfilm production’s second season. Season 1 composer Nicholas Britell who was unable to commit to the entire season due to a personal family matter has scored two episodes of the new season and is being credited for providing “additional themes” on the rest of the episodes.

https://filmmusicreporter.com/2025/04/11/brandon-roberts-scoring-disneys-andor-season-2/

interesting, I wonder if this will be a Ludwig Goransson and Joseph Shirley situation then. I'm glad Britell was able to still provide themes as they've been quite strong so far

admittedly I'd be intrigued if this soundtrack ends up skewing more towards that traditional Star Wars sound but without really knowing Brandon Roberts' style it's hard to say if he'd take it in that direction or not

[Stark 682]

Almost all of Brandon Roberts' work has been with Marco Beltrami, so it's reasonable to assume his style will be similar.

[DarthDementous 1,424]

2 hours ago, Stark said:

Almost all of Brandon Roberts' work has been with Marco Beltrami, so it's reasonable to assume his style will be similar.

I'm not familiar with Marco Beltrami's work, what sort of sound is that roughly?

[Trope 1,185]

1 hour ago, DarthDementous said:

I'm not familiar with Marco Beltrami's work, what sort of sound is that roughly?

From what I’ve skimmed of Beltrami, dull and uninspired but functional. I hope Roberts is able to rise above it.
 

Actually, I listened to Roberts’ most streamed track on Spotify, and it sounds very similar to Britell’s Andor theme, so he may actually have been the right choice to continue that sound in the show. 

[Stark 682]

2 hours ago, DarthDementous said:

I'm not familiar with Marco Beltrami's work, what sort of sound is that roughly?

He got his start on horror music (Scream, etc), which isn't my cup of tea, although his thriller Knowing is excellent. He's done his share of action of course - A Good Day to Die Hard is fun. He's done a number of excellent slow-paced westerns scores too, like 3:10 to Yuma and Logan. And there's various other scores. The Giver is lovely and has an excellent main theme. Fantastic Four (cocomposed with Philip Glass of all people) is great. And of course, there's Soul Surfer.

[DarthDementous 1,424]

8 minutes ago, Stark said:

Fantastic Four (cocomposed with Philip Glass of all people) is great

what the fuck I had no idea Philip Glass was involved with a Fantastic Four movie of all things

[Stark 682]

24 minutes ago, DarthDementous said:

what the fuck I had no idea Philip Glass was involved with a Fantastic Four movie of all things

And it's the terrible 2015 movie! I think Glass only wrote a few tracks but his style influences it all.

[HunterTech 1,502]

It's only 4-5° cues he's credited on (and one isn't even in the film), so only barely involved

 

°I have no clue if the EL-P end credits track actually involves either credited main composer, with it sounding nothing like the rest of the score

[Knight of Ren 1,269]

Been re-listening to the first two volumes and I noticed a couple of recurring motifs that weren't mentioned by @Gabriel Bezerra in the post above, but I really don't know their meaning.

 

Spoiler

The first one is this soft, ascending idea that pops up in some tracks as counterpoint to either the Andor theme or the Ferrix theme:

 

and this bit in the funeral march sounds quite similar to it, but faster:

 

and the other is this one, which appears in several scenes during the Aldhani arc:

 

but then also appears in the Mon Mothma theme, and in several of her scenes, so I don't really know what it means:

 

And finally, another nice musical detail I found is during the prison escape arc, where we hear the Narkina 5 motif:

 

which then becomes part of The Rebellion Suite / My Name Is Kino Loy: