Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey conceivably surprised us all, in a wider sense of being a box office hit, and while I’ve been a fan of Nolan’s work since Memento, I wasn’t sure how he’d bring such a vast tale to life. Yet, with all the will in the world and a nice hit of his characteristic non-linear storytelling, it’s already a classic Nolan that’s also one of his most accessible films in years. If anything, and especially when applying this to ‘event’ movies, it shows once again that his trust in audiences has found its way home to success, with an absolute epic tale.

With every film release, Nolan’s collaborated with some of the finest film music composers in the business from David Julyan to James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer. Now, after working together on Tenet and Oppenheimer, Ludwig Göransson returns with a gigantic film score. From what I’m aware of, Nolan works in a different way to most major filmmakers where the score is written by the composer before they’ve seen the visuals, rather than scoring to scene. Sometimes it’ll be an idea, or a graphical or instrument-based discussion, and in the case of The Odyssey, Nolan quite literally asked Göransson to create without an orchestra.

From this ‘unhelpful instruction’, and that’s a quote from Nolan himself by the way, Göransson set out on a journey into the world to experiment, play and produce a completely unique film score that would eventually attach to the early edits of the film itself, again – before he’d even seen actual footage. Starting out by renting as many gongs as possible, with 35 different varieties mentioned, Ludwig travelled through symbolic time, not only trying to play them in every way imaginable, but also to offer something that could embrace, and enhance, the eventual feeling of the film.

Throughout this film score, we’re witness a first-hand earwitness to a huge array of experimentation and it’s genuinely refreshing, and intensely rewarding, that we can get this type of work and hear it merged it into the mainstream – basically endeavouring to what hasn’t been done a thousand times before, but still captivate an audience with both sound and vision. From amalgamating modern synths with ancient instruments, like the Lyre (a stringed instrument approximately over 4,500 years old) and the Aulos (technically a double-reeded oboe, also ancient), the film composer would eventually offer Nolan enough of this work for the director to build this glorious world for us all to inhabit.

As Christopher Nolan discusses in his foreword, as this comes with a 12” booklet within this beautiful vinyl release, he was in awe of the music they had at their disposal, labelling it ‘ancient iso-polyphonic folk’ no less, whereas the score had taken what we’d expect from the old world – in terms of music being about using voices – in an era of less orchestration that we know so well today. He also discusses the mournful and terrifying harmonies of the one and only James Blake, and the use of choral ensemble ‘Roomful of Teeth’ who drift in and out of harmony itself, for all the right reasons.

Bringing It All is a track that encapsulates not just the trip within the film, but Göransson’s epic work. It utilises the aforementioned ancient instruments, whilst also blending in scrap metal, air-conditioning units and even the man slapping walls – and who would have thought that Stomp would seep through so extra-dramatically. Tracks like Circe (featuring Samantha Morton, who composes and shares her own music, and entire setup which is one the best scenes for years), as well as Ithaca, Laestrygonians and opener Zeus’s Law that certainly stand out, plus Sirens, Odysseus and composition closer When I’m Home that excels with every element enveloped.  

What might be different about The Odyssey, as a complete ‘original motion picture soundtrack’, is that its ambience and storytelling is an expedition all of its own. This is an exceptional piece of work to accompany an epic film, and this stunning vinyl release from Mutant pays deep respect to the sound with a great vinyl press. I love a proper record release, and Mutant have knocked it out of the park (or out across the sea?) once again with this exclusive 3 x 140gm gold vinyl record release, that offers six sides of epic adventure.

Ludwig Göransson‘s original soundtrack to Christopher Nolan‘s The Odyssey, from Mutant, in partnership with Universal Pictures, and Back Lot Music, is available to pre-order now on gold or black vinyl, with a CD also available directly from Mutant.

Order directly, right here: https://madebymutant.com/the-odyssey-OMPS-Variant

For more coverage of The Odyssey, click here!