Is Iceland the hot new home of film composing? Maybe at least for the moment. Sigur Ros frontman Jónsi has found a new collaborator in Cameron Crowe, not only scoring "We Bought Zoo," but the director's next effort as well, and he's not the only native of Iceland to tune up a movie last year.
Former metalhead turned producer and composer Ólafur Arnalds lent his skills to "Another Happy Day," the Sundance winner for Best Screenplay that found Ellen Barkin basking in rave reviews for her performance for much of 2011. Well, with the film, currently available digitally and on VOD (with a handful of theaters running it this weekend), Erased Tapes is currently pulling together a soundtrack release of Arnalds score for the film. And talking with CMU, he fully credits Barkin for enabling him to land the gig.
Director Sam Levinson had been listening to his music as he was putting together the movie, and initially called him up for the gig, but it was Barkin who strong-armed the moviemakers to sign Arnalds on. "…it was not until Ellen Barkin – the beautiful force that she is – had pestered the producers for a week, calling them every day about how I am the right one for this film, that they finally gave in," he explained. "The only catch was that it had to be done two weeks later, in the first week of January [2011]. So I ended up scoring non-stop all throughout Christmas, making my mother mad in the process”.
The result is no less beautiful, even with the tight timeline. You can take a listen to "Lynn's Theme" below. The soundtrack hits on February 27th.
Lynn's Theme by Olafur Arnalds
"Another Happy Day" Soundtrack Tracklist
The Land Of Nod
Through The Screen
Before The Calm
Lynn’s Theme
Alice Enters
The Wait
A Family Stroll
Poland
Out To Sea
Autumn Day
Everything Must Change