Soundtracking with Edith Bowman

We have a composer for you today who has been on our wish-list for a very long time. Benjamin Wallfisch has built up strong relationships in the industry, perhaps most notably with our old friend Hans Zimmer, with whom he has collaborated on several projects including Blade Runner 2049.

Benjamin's latest outing is on Ron Howard's Thirteen Lives, which tells the miraculous true story of the boys and the football coach who were rescued from a Thai cave having been trapped by flooding.

We're such a fan of the movies of our latest guest on Soundtracking, the wonderful Jordan Peele.

Following the critical and commercial success of Get Out and Us, Jordan goes fully widescreen with his sci-fi epic Nope, which sees ranch-owning siblings Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer try to capture footage of an extraterrestrial spacecraft. We shall say no more than that ...

As with Jordan's previous two movies, Nope is scored by Michael Abels, and we share plenty of his music from the film too.

Our latest guests on soundtracking are partners in both a personal and creative sense, whose latest collaboration sees them bring us the utterly wild Bullet Train.

Husband and wife team of director David Leitch and producer Kelly McCormick have a lot of fun with a great cast to tell the story of a motley crew of rogues, who all mysteriously find themselves on the same Japanese train. We're not gonna lie, the results are bonkers - in a very entertaining way.

As well as featuring an array of truly brilliant needle drops, Bullet Train is very deftly scored by Dominic Lewis.

Something a little different for you on our latest episode of Soundtracking, as Edith speaks to Baillie Walsh. Baillie is the director of the extraordinary virtual concert, ABBA Voyage, though to call it a virtual concert really doesn't begin to describe quite how spectacular it is. Made in conjunction with the band, it features incredible life sized avatars - or ABBAtars - a mind-blowing light show and sensational live band, and is a full-blown assault on the senses in the best possible way. 

As a show, it also raises questions about the future of gigs - and how big tours can be more sustainable.

We love the episodes of Soundtracking where we speak to both the director of the film and their composer, which is exactly what we're doing today
Charlotte Colbert and Clint Mansell have combined to great effect on She Will, Charlotte's unsettling little gem of a movie in which an ageing film star heads to retreat in the Scottish countryside and encounters mysterious forces emerging from the land ... 

Not one, not two, but three utterly joyous guests for you on this week's episode of Soundtracking, all of whom are interpreting the work of a couple of very different types of genius.
First, we bring you Barney Douglas and Felix White, who have formed a doubles pairing extraordinaire on McEnroe, a documentary which Barney directed and Felix scored about the legendary tennis champ. It's Wimbledon meets Michael Mann's Heat, and they've absolutely aced it.
Then we have a first-time movie director who's been wowing theatre audiences for years - the delightful Carrie Cracknell - on her Netflix adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion. 

We have such a treat for you this week, as the genius that is - and we don't throw that word around lightly - Taika Waititi returns to Soundtracking to discuss Thor: Love & Thunder. 

Expect music from Guns 'n' Roses, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Michael Giacchino and, um, The Muppets, as duetted by Edith and Taika.

So thrilled to be welcoming Natalie Holt back to Soundtracking - a composer who's doing great things, most recently in providing the score for Obi-Wan Kenobi on Disney +.
Here she tells Edith about adding to the legendary musical landscape of the franchise, and meeting the man who's behind much of it, her idol John Williams.

Our guest this week is visionary filmmaker Baz Luhrmann, who Edith has been a huge fan of for many years. He always takes you on a journey with his storytelling, both visually and through the maverick nature of the way he uses music and sound. You might have even heard last week's guest, Lykke Li, referencing his Romeo & Juliet as a really seminal film for her. 

His latest film is the glorious, colourful and immersive Elvis, his interpretation of the life of the one and Elvis Presley - The King - who is played perfectly by Austin Butler.

Our latest guests on Soundtracking have combined to great effect on an audiovisual album that specifically set out to challenge the conventions of the traditional music video.

Lykke Li enlisted the services of experimental filmmaker Theo Lindquist to shoot a series of one minute loops, which accompany the songs on her latest album EYEYE. The results are utterly hypnotic, beautiful and moving - as you can see for yourself online.