Skip to content

ADRIFT

Written By:

Nick Spacek
adrift

Volker Bertelmann’s original score to the lost at sea film, Adrift, is a startling musical exercise. While the composer (better known as Hauschka) is best recognised for his compositions on prepared piano – including the Oscar-nominated score for 2016’s Lion – this score also features a full orchestra to bolster Hauschka’s music.

As the composer states in the liner notes for the Music On Vinyl release, he had “a lot of freedom to craft the music in its wildness and fragility”, which is a perfect encapsulation of what he’s done here. The early pieces, such as Destination Unknown and Tami Meets Richard are sunlit pieces of romanticism, but as Adrift‘s story progresses, Hauschka’s score begins to incorporate electronic elements which make it difficult to tell where the music ends and the sound design begins.

Makeshift Mast sounds like a storm is happening as the record spins, as if the stereo speakers are pushing a hurricane into the listener’s room. As director Baltasar Kormákur comments in the liner notes regarding his search for a score, “I was looking for something but hard a hard time explaining what. When Volker’s music reached my ears, I knew exactly what it was and that I had found it.”

One can say the same thing about Adrift as a listening experience: even if one’s never seen the film, the story is ably told told through Bertlemann’s score. The experience takes the story of ‘Love, Loss, and Survival at Sea’ (as the subtitle to the book on which the film is based states) and relates it sonically, and powerfully.

From love to fear to loss to loneliness to hope, the listener comes along the journey, and while it’s at times quite heartbreaking, the thread of beauty which runs throughout it all makes the Adrift score something which will see play over and over again.

In addition to Hauschka’s original score, the film’s soundtrack includes a cover of Tom Waits’s I Hope That I Don’t Fall in Love with You by Emilíana Torrini, which is quite lovely and – much like the Hauschka score – finds the beauty in something very sad.

Adrift‘s first pressing is limited to 750 numbered copies on 180-gram transparent blue vinyl, and comes with the aforementioned liner notes. They’re minimal, but reveal the connection between composer and director. The pressing is stellar. It’s asking a lot for a record to reproduce the delicate sound of waves striking a ship’s hull while also fulfilling the requirements of an entire orchestra, but Music On Vinyl did an excellent job. Putting on headphones only heightens the experience.

ADRIFT / COMPOSER: VOLKER BERTELMANN / LABEL: MUSIC ON VINYL / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

 

Nick Spacek

You May Also Like...

andy and barbara muschietti, aka the muschiettis, teaming with skydance for horror label nocturna

The Muschiettis Launch Horror Label NOCTURNA With Skydance

The It-team are joining forces with Skydance to launch a brand new horror division named Nocturna, THR reports. The brother-sister filmmaking duo known as the Muschiettis – Andy and Barbara
Read More
patty jenkins returns to the star wars film rogue squadron

Patty Jenkins Returns With STAR WARS’ ROGUE SQUADRON Film

Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins has given an encouraging update on what was presumed to be a dead project, stating that she’s back in active development on her Star Wars
Read More

Comic Book CAPITAL P Launched

Capital P Book One is the first part of a twelve-issue comic book maxi-series from writer Sam Gardner Jr and artist Jerome Canty. The official tag line is “A hero
Read More
neve campbell as sidney prescott in scream

Neve Campbell Returns To SCREAM Franchise

In an unexpected turn of events, Neve Campbell is confirmed to be returning to the Scream franchise, after several upsets to the production of Scream VII. It’s particularly surprising news
Read More

The First Trailer for THE CROW is Here

The highly anticipated remake of The Crow has its first trailer, which you can check out below. The film stars Bill Skarsgård as Eric Draven and FKA Twigs as Shelly
Read More

Submit Your Film to THE RAY HARRYHAUSEN AWARDS

The Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation is once again holding an awards programme to recognise excellence in the field of stop-motion effects. This year’s submission fees have also been reduced!
Read More