as reported previously, jónsi has spent some time working on the
original motion picture soundtrack for the forthcoming cameron crowe
movie "we bought a zoo".
today sees the announcement of details of the soundtrack that
comprises of over 30 minutes of brand new music from jónsi – the
soundtrack comprises of two new songs from jónsi: "ævin endar” (life
ends) & "snærisendar” (end of a rope) as well as nine shorter
"theme” pieces, plus reimagining’s of songs from jónsi’s debut solo
album "go”. the soundtrack also includes "hoppípolla” by sigur rós.
the movie is released in america on the 23rd of december – the soundtrack is available to pre-order now from amazon.com with a release date of december 13th.
"[jónsi] arrived from iceland with a toy sampler keyboard
and a headful of ideas,” says cameron. "within a week, [he] had
composed a series of themes that would reflect everything we’d hoped
for. in his music were all the highs and lows and passionate in-betweens
of the film itself. the instinct that made the movie come full circle.”
cameron’s relationship with jónsi and sigur rós goes back almost as
far as the band’s position in the international spotlight, to 2001 and
the director’s much-noticed inclusion of three of the band’s songs in
the hugely successful tom cruise film ‘vanilla sky’. cameron has long
heralded the band and their filmwork, to the extent that the secret
project name for we bought a zoo was, in fact, ‘heima’ in honor of the
band’s 2007 tour film.
"early on it was obvious that [sigur rós’] music would have a
profound effect on the making of we bought a zoo,” says cameron. "in
preparation for making the movie, we gave all the actors and crew
members a copy of sigur rós’ transcendent documentary, ‘heima’.”
even ahead of getting jónsi on board as composer, we bought a zoo was
broadly ‘temped’ with jónsi’ solo material. it’s an open secret that
cameron would encourage matt damon, scarlett johansson and the other
actors on the movie to listen to specific songs by the band to create
the right energy for a scene.
"the actors listened to the music during their takes; it quickly became part of the film’s dna,” says the director.
perhaps even more potent is the fact that the closing scene of we
bought a zoo is a cinematic homage to a specific moment in ‘heima’ when
gleeful crowds stream in a sigur rós show in the far north of iceland
or, in this case, the newly opened zoo.
among the original score and new songs is ‘gathering stories’, a song
co-written by jónsi and cameron, in something of a collaborative first
for the notoriously private icelander. orchestral arrangements on the
score have been handled by previous jónsi working partner, and ‘reader’
soundtrack composer, nico muhly, who brings his quixotic genius to the
string and brass sections.
