What Do You Know? I’ve seen Alex Garland’s Annihilation a few times now. If you haven’t watched it, it’s a beautiful, unsettling science fiction trip. Starring Natalie Portman and directed by Garland (Ex Machina), the film follows a biologist into “The Shimmer”—a mysterious zone where […]

The Luck Is Ours Alone While Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon focus on the high-stakes maneuvering of kings, queens, and Great Houses—A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms offers a refreshing, more intimate look at George R.R. Martin’s world. Based on the Tales […]

Can’t Help falling in Love Elvis Presley’s performance of “Unchained Melody” — recorded just weeks before he passed — is one of the greatest moments in American Rock & Roll history. I eventually arranged that piece myself. Not quite as dramatic as Elvis, but his […]

Your Choices, Your Actions This sentimental, acoustic-driven song accompanies a scene in the latest Superman movie where Clark expresses fear that he was sent to Earth to “hurt people,” based on a message from his biological parents. Pa Kent counters this with a quietly powerful […]

Chains of Love I love the concept of the Wuthering Heights soundtrack; pairing the hyperpop energy of Charli xcx with a romantic period piece is an inspired choice. It’s a fascinating departure for Charli xcx, whose typical sound is up-tempo and experimental, rather than the […]

ocean eyes I’m still struck by the artistry of Billie Eilish’s debut, “dont smile at me”. She brought such a dark and unique sound to pop music—and remarkably, she was only 15 when it was first released. Beyond the music, I loved her unconventional “orthography” […]

Variation 15 (Dunkirk) While Hans Zimmer served as the principal composer for Dunkirk, the score’s soft, ambient, and melodic textures were crafted by Benjamin Wallfisch and inspired by Sir Edward Elgar (1857–1934). The film’s most poignant theme is a reimagining of Elgar’s “Nimrod” from his […]

[no spoilers] The Bone Temple Hildur Guðnadóttir is a cellist and composer who has become a leading figure in post-classical and film music. She represents a bit of a funny paradox: she is a beautiful, cheerful Icelandic woman who is best known for creating unrelenting, […]

Brooklyn Baby Lana Del Rey’s “Brooklyn Baby” (Ultraviolence, 2014) is a satirical nod to Brooklyn’s hipster subculture. Produced by Dan Auerbach, it perfectly captures the “California-noir” and psychedelic rock vibe of that era. There is a bittersweet story behind the track: Lana had planned to […]

Embers I originally wrote this piece for a foreign language film titled Broken Noons, directed by Guillermo Vasquez and shot in Spain. I’ve always been proud of the work I did for that project, so I’ve recently been re-recording and releasing those tracks. “Embers” is […]

A soft collision of breath One of my favorite composers is Max Richter. To me, he is the father of post-classical music (sometimes referred to as post-minimalism or neo-classical). The magic of his work—take “On the Nature of Daylight,” for example—is that it’s simple enough […]

Coventry Carol One of my all-time favorite Christmas albums is Loreena McKennitt’s A Winter Garden, released in 1995—the very year I graduated high school. At that time, I was working part-time mornings at Natural Wonders (while teaching guitar late afternoons and evenings). Natural Wonders was […]