Stream 'Blade Runner 2049' Score By Hans Zimmer & Benjamin Wallfisch

One of the many talking points around “Blade Runner 2049” was the exit of Denis Villeneuve‘s longtime composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, and his replacement by Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch. The move was chalked up as a creative choice to benefit the vision the filmmaker was trying to achieve, and now we can hear exactly what Zimmer and  Wallfisch have brought for their futuristic score.

The entire project seems to have been about finely balancing reverence for Ridley Scott‘s 1982 classic, while also pushing forward with new ideas. And that goes for the soundtrack too, which used modern musical flourishes, along with banks of vintage synths, including a Yamaha CS80.

READ MORE: ‘Blade Runner 2049’ Trailer With Denis Villeneuve’s Director Commentary

“First of all, I realized that Denis is a director who has a vision; he has a voice,” Zimmer explained. “Remember, I’ve done a lot of movies with Ridley Scott. So, it was important that this was an autonomous piece of work. Let’s just be honest. Ridley is a hard act to follow — as is Vangelis. While Ben was four-years-old, I had actually experienced all of this [laughs]. We watched and literally, as we stopped watching, we decided on the palette. We decided this wasn’t going to be an orchestral thing. The story spoke to us.”

“We all know what ‘Blade Runner‘ feels like and what that experience is to watch this incredible masterpiece,” Wallfisch added. “The first question we asked ourselves was, ‘How can we reinvent and make it fresh and new, but still be in that world?’ The mission from the beginning was this idea of finding the heart of the film — what is its soul? When you discover the simplest possible theme, it sums up humanity almost. I feel like that’s what we were all striving for towards the beginning of the process.”

The “Blade Runner 2049” soundtrack is now available everywhere, with physical CD copies shipping later this month. Listen below.