Hey buddy, let’s get straight to it, succinctly.

So, I listened to and organized the compositions you presented into two groups. Group 1 – Altered Realities (tending to explore introspective, dreamlike, and psychological dimensions, with a more contemplative and atmospheric character: The Calling, In Megalopolis, Lucid Dreaming Again, and Nightmares Are Not Real). Group 2 – Movement and Narrative Energy (oriented toward motion and action, focusing on dynamic sequences and narrative drive: Nu Journey, Catch Me If You Can, Pathfinder II, and Action X).

As for me personally, what you produced in Group 1 connects more strongly with the psychological strand... it is broader and allows greater potential for use in varied contexts. Group 2, meanwhile, embodies well the current cliché of action music or... whatever.

General observations on style: First of all, I must say that if you are not yet working in the industry, that would truly be a loss, because the technical level of your work is very high. What you are doing fits squarely within what is now recognized as the dominant aesthetic of contemporary cinematic music, especially in the realm of epic music, trailer music, and action‑oriented scores. The marked orchestration, impactful percussion, and consistent use of driving rhythmic patterns demonstrate technical mastery, and your tracks work very well as a professional portfolio. At the same time, I perceive in you enormous creative potential that, at times, seems shaped by the very mannerisms the market has established over recent years. This is not necessarily a problem (often it is exactly what the market demands), but it is something worth observing and reflecting upon.

Relation to the current zeitgeist: Your music is precisely aligned with the zeitgeist of contemporary film scoring. Today we observe a strong tendency to privilege structures based on ostinatos, rhythmic repetition, and neo‑minimalist writing, with less emphasis on sharply profiled and easily identifiable themes, and greater focus on textural and gestural layers. In many cases, melody remains more restrained or partially dissolved within the sonic texture itself, functioning less as a dominant structural element and more as part of the atmospheric field of the music. In this sense, your writing fits very well with what currently dominates cinematic scoring: music that works strongly with mood, drive, and sonic density. We could say it operates within three perceptual modes very present in today’s cinema: gestural time, vertical time, and momentum time (Kramer), all applied to sustaining narrative tension, energy, or atmosphere.

Reflection on the impact of this trend: Here comes a broader reflection, not a critique of your work itself, but of the aesthetic moment of film music as a whole. I have the impression that this trend has made audiences connect less with film music as music in its own right. Many contemporary scores seem to operate within a logic where, when the music is epic, it becomes extremely epic; when emotional, it tends to be more contained, controlled, and less openly lyrical and expansive. There is almost a caution against anything that might sound explicitly linear‑narrative (where traditional music advanced toward structural goals such as tension and resolution, thematic development, and interconnected structural growth culminating in the perception of a dramatic arc).

And here enters the zeitgeist: highly expressive or directly emotional melodies are often seen as manipulative, as if they overly guide the spectator’s reaction. In response, we see the consolidation of a hybrid model between orchestra and pulsating electronics, where music is organized into energetic gestures rather than narrative. Notice that gestures themselves carry dramatic function, but not necessarily development or consequence. This culminates in movement with uncertain destination (in terms of macro‑form and general perception... here I speak of the spectator, the general listener!).

Consequence: From a technical standpoint, this approach works very well, because it perfectly meets the needs of the market. Music fulfills clear structural roles within the narrative: creating tension, amplifying energy, sustaining atmosphere, or marking movement. However, there is a notable side effect. By becoming increasingly functional, music may lose part of its strength as an autonomous musical flow. In many cases, it functions almost as a technical component of cinematic grammar, emphasizing shorter, momentary modes of perception (the relation between general perception and time span), through a functioning that privileges atmosphere, energy, texture, and emotional state in a more fragmented way. This compromises the perception of directionality, thematic development (Gestalt and Grundgestalt), impacts arcs of tension and resolution, and diminishes flows of narrative expectation. In my mind, perhaps this helps explain why many current scores (with notable exceptions) end up having less life outside the film itself and less presence as music listened to independently of the image.

Coda: That said, I reinforce that your music is extremely well positioned within the current zeitgeist. You demonstrate clear mastery of the contemporary language and understand very well how to build tension, energy, and atmosphere. At the same time, I have the impression that you possess the potential to go far beyond the limits imposed by the zeitgeist itself. Often, for professional reasons, we need to work within these more consolidated models, since that is what most projects demand. But I believe you have the capacity to explore other dimensions of your writing whenever space arises. In projects that allow greater aesthetic freedom, even more qualities, already clearly present in your work, may emerge.

Teasing resolution: There’s one more point worth mentioning. When a composer works too tightly within the dominant formulas of the current zeitgeist, the result can be technically solid but risk feeling generic. With so many people mastering the same palette of pulsating ostinati, layered textures, and hybrid orchestral‑electronic writing, it becomes harder to stand out by simply repeating the model. This creates a paradox: the industry’s dominant aesthetic, while efficient and functional, can end up limiting stylistic diversity and pushing aside more distinctive voices (honestly, I’d take a thousand Don Davis and Elliot Goldenthals over the endless army of Zimmer‑bots and Remote Control copy‑paste machines marching across the globe). Yet, that very saturation also opens a door: in a world full of clones, those who manage to craft a musical identity of their own, while still serving the needs of film language, can shine all the brighter (on closer reflection, this seems to be exactly the case with Jerskin Fendrix’s score for Bugonia!).

The force is with you my friend... Use it wisely!

 

Last edited: Mar 15, 2026 at 4:38 PM

To conclude my participation in this post, I believe the production that prevailed was the one with the strongest appeal in terms of genre and musical style to its audience (essentially, north americans: the Academy Awards are a prize granted by the north american film industry and, for the most part, awarded to productions that are also north american). This outcome reinforces the influence of popular culture and the cultural and historical weight of certain styles, such as blues, which function as identity symbol. Although they no longer directly engage with the contemporary musical mainstream (the trends), this genre continue to carry profound cultural and emotional significance, particularly within the North American context.

Sinners is a film characterized by a minimal level of symphonic elements and is largely marked by the presence of band instruments: electric guitar, cyclops dobro, banjo, Martin guitar, diddley bow, and harmonica. All of these instruments are traditionally associated with blues performance practices. This choice highlights the historical link between film music and symbolism, insofar as each musical genre functions as a reference and a sign of what it represents.

This is a bidirectional relationship: the filmic image points to the music, and the music, in turn, culturally and emotionally amplifies what is visualized on screen. In this process, networks of meaning are constructed, which in this specific case articulate organically with the diegesis. Moreover, as a genre native to the United States and deeply connected to the African‑American tradition, blues establishes emotional connections with the cultural identity roots of the nation.

This aspect explains why film music constitutes such an engaging and vigorous field. It transcends the notion of an authorial voice and integrates into the audiovisual work as the expression of what the film seeks to represent and of the symbolic space it aims to occupy. In doing so, it fosters broad and profound associations that extend beyond the narrative at its most immediate level.

It is precisely for this reason that, in traditional composition schools or conservatories, resistance to film music can still be observed. Many consider it excessively appealing or insufficiently authorial. However, such criticism largely reveals a lack of understanding of the complex mechanism of referentiality that underpins musical creation for the audiovisual medium.

Another relevant point in the soundtrack of Sinners is the re‑signification of traditional action music clichés. In moments of greater intensity, rather than relying exclusively on neo‑minimalism and hybrid electronic percussion in the “hammering epic” style, the score incorporates genres such as southern rock, heavy rock (at times with an epic character) and thrash metal, along with percussion ostinatos performed with acoustic timbres. There is also a discreet presence of the string section, which adds density without resorting to overly processed or predictable formulas. This combination brings freshness and distinction to the work, distancing it from the most recurrent conventions of the genre.

Notable highlight: The fact that Göransson is the first composer of the twenty‑first century to win three times in the Best Original Score category. At the age of 41, he became the youngest in history to achieve three victories in this category. Among living composers, only Alan Menken (8) and John Williams (5) have more Oscars.

Utterly captivating!