While Thom Yorke is off DJing dubstep tracks in tiny nightclubs and hanging out with Flea in their new supergroup Atoms For Peace, Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood hasn't been sitting idle. He dove headfirst into compositional work, and also recently tuned up Lynne Ramsay's "We Need To Talk About Kevin" and Tran Anh Hung's "Norwegian Wood." He's returning once again to the film world, and excitingly, he's collaborating with a filmmaker with whom he's created some of his best score work.
Take a deep breath Paul Thomas Anderson fans, as Greenwood is returning to score "The Master." Fan site Cigarettes & Red Vines picked up on a tweet from Oliver Weindling, founder of the British label Babel, that said: "Zed-U recorded part of soundtrack for Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead last week. Film (by Paul Thomas Anderson) to appear in 2013." Zed-U are a not terribly well known British jazz group who will probably soon see a spike in iTunes sales thanks to the news, but as you can see from the clip below, they seem to fit very firmly within Greenwood's aural universe. No word yet on what rules the Academy will construct to rule out Greenwood's work for awards consideration.
And before you have a heart attack over that 2013 release thing, just note that Weindling lives in the U.K. where they generally get releases a few months after the U.S. We presume the December/end of year 2012 stateside release date via The Weinstein Company is still in the works. Of course, who knows the musical direction this will take, but Greenwood's deliciously modern classical approach to "There Will Be Blood" was a refreshing change from the usual treatment period films get. How he'll approach religious cult material here should prove fascinating.
