Deliver Us (Tóti Guðnason)
Original score from the 2023 horror feature film directed by Cru Ennis and Lee Roy Kunz, starring Thomas Kretschmann, Alexander Siddig and Maria Vera Ratti, produced by World’s Fair Pictures and released by Magnet Releasing (USA).
THE STORY: When a nun in a remote convent claims immaculate conception, the Vatican sends a team of priests to investigate, concerned about an ancient prophecy that a woman will give birth to twin boys: one the Messiah, the other the Anti-Christ.
THE SCORE: “Deliver Us was the first international project I took after my debut score for Lamb. When I read the script I was hooked and very willing to try scoring a horror film. A concept that’s dominant in the score is work with imperfect spectralism. I had a variety of players freestyle with harmonics, playing perfect and imperfect harmonies resulting in a mixture of pure and skewed. I got in touch with Mark Harrop who makes gorgeous sounds using springs and modular synthesizers. His input led my orchestral arrangements into new and unexpected territories. I did sessions with a very experimental violinist called Pétur Eggertsson. He mostly does performance art but his sounds lended themself very well to horror. An amazingly free spirited player. Ingibjörg Fríða’s extraordinary vocals and Lilja María Ásmundsdóttir playing her self-made instrument, Hulda, enriched the intimate sequences, adding depth to the overall composition. My dear band mate from Agent Fresco, Hrafnkell Örn Guðjónsson, has a big presence with his percussion and drumming. He is such a good drummer and percussionist. His drumming brings stability to unstable things. I recorded much of the piano in my own studio but for some of the more mechanical parts I went to Ólafur Arnalds’s space which has acoustic pianos with midi capabilities and it felt very fitting having a horror score with these self playing pianos. Most of the string recordings were done while a huge snow storm went through Iceland. You can hear doors creaking and wind blowing in some of the pieces. I love hearing it and I think it plays very well into the film’s atmosphere. I’m a terrible cellist but I love playing the cello and playing with the juxtaposition between me, an amateur and then real professionals playing properly.“ – Tóti Guðnason
THE COMPOSER: Tóti Guðnason is a composer and guitarist from Reykjavík, Iceland. Deliver Us is his first score as a sole composer after Lamb. Before that, Tóti worked as an arranger and composer’s assistant on such scores as the Oscar-winning Joker (2019) by his sister Hildur Guðnadóttir, the BAFTA-winning soundtrack for Broadchurch (2015) by Ólafur Arnalds, and the score for Netflix series Katla (2021) by Högni Egilsson. His more recent and upcoming works as a solo composer include Azrael, Nonostante and The Home. Tóti graduated in classical composition from the Iceland University of the Arts and has been a touring musician both with his art metal band Agent Fresco and the late Jóhann Jóhannsson. Working closely with Jóhannsson on various film and studio works, Þórarinn contributed both musical direction and arrangements for his pieces.
MMS24019 DELIVER US (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Music Composed by TÓTI GUÐNASON
Release date: September 6, 2024