About the Project
Q. Why did you decide to write an "unofficial score" for The Hunger Games trilogy?
A. Both of us were extremely intrigued by the books and, as composers, sort of naturally jumped to wondering what the musical universe of such a story might sound like. The setting of The Hunger Games is a dystopic North American future, which leaves the door wide open on genre, sound palette, textures... pretty much everything! Since we're both in the business of music, we don't have a whole lot of time, but something like this was just too good to pass up. It gave us a chance to find a new medium through which to tell the story and have some fun doing so!
Q. How did you decide what "sound" was appropriate for The Hunger Games?
A. The books have a very human, earthy, and folky quality to them that pointed us toward American folk and simple folk-like melodies, as well as instruments that had a vaguely folky disposition. At the same time, we wanted to avoid being too obvious - we didn't actually want to incorporate bluegrass fiddle or banjo doing banjo-y things. After all, The Hunger Games is set in the future, too. So we started writing with a few basic ideas in mind: the districts sound folky and "natural," and the Capitol has something twisted and glitzy and electric to it. The ensemble of live musicians helped solidify the sound, too - violin and cello can be folky or classical or creepy, the bass recorder has a wonderfully breathy sound to it, and, of course, just about every culture has voice music. As we've expanded our scores, our vocalists have expanded, too, and we now have singers who have folky, innocent voices and some singers who have more trained, polished voices - different sounds to complement the different tones the story takes.
Q. Is this music on iTunes?
A. Yes it is! You can find the first soundtrack on iTunes, Amazon, & Bandcamp, and it is streaming on Spotify as well! The second soundtrack (Vol. II) has just been released on iTunes, Amazon, & Bandcamp as well! All of these services offer legal ways to purchase and download the soundtrack - either as individual tracks or as an entire album! We appreciate your support!
Q. Are you guys really film composers?
A. Yes! We're both definitely real, live composers who have written scores for films as well as music for Off Broadway theater, live concerts, rock musicals, circus acts and even (yes) the occasional accordion polka. The wonderful thing about life as a musician is that no two projects are ever the same, and as long as you're making music and doing what you love, the rest is an adventure! But yes, we are both trained composers (who were also trained as film composers at NYU's film scoring program), and yes, we have scored films that have been through the festival circuit, both in the US and beyond. (If you want to know more about those projects, you can visit our websites, www.edwardunderhillmusic.com and www.mattbukaty.com.)
Q. What is the singer singing in "Loss & Survival" anyway? Do those words mean anything?
A. No. Not in any real language. Using wordless voice can sound beautiful, but sometimes it's just necessary for the voice to have lyrics. The problem then becomes: what should those lyrics be? In the case of "Loss And Survival", Ed didn't want to write "real" lyrics, because that piece is not meant to communicate a clear message. There's something to be said for hearing words, knowing they're words, but not knowing their meaning. It allows you to let go go and just experience the bigger picture. Maybe it communicates something more fundamentally human, but we don't know if we dare go that far.
Q. Will you guys be writing music for Catching Fire and Mockingjay?
A. YES. We just released "The HG Music Project: Volume II", which contains music for Catching Fire! (We are calling it "Volume II" so that those who own the copyright for Catching Fire retain their rights.) You can find it streaming here on our website, and it will soon be on iTunes, Amazon, Bandcamp, and Spotify. Check it out and let us know what you think! As for Mockingjay - as of right now, yes, we have plans to write an unofficial score for Mockingjay as well. We'll keep you updated as the project develops! You can check for updates on our "Contact & Comment" page, or on Facebook.
A. Both of us were extremely intrigued by the books and, as composers, sort of naturally jumped to wondering what the musical universe of such a story might sound like. The setting of The Hunger Games is a dystopic North American future, which leaves the door wide open on genre, sound palette, textures... pretty much everything! Since we're both in the business of music, we don't have a whole lot of time, but something like this was just too good to pass up. It gave us a chance to find a new medium through which to tell the story and have some fun doing so!
Q. How did you decide what "sound" was appropriate for The Hunger Games?
A. The books have a very human, earthy, and folky quality to them that pointed us toward American folk and simple folk-like melodies, as well as instruments that had a vaguely folky disposition. At the same time, we wanted to avoid being too obvious - we didn't actually want to incorporate bluegrass fiddle or banjo doing banjo-y things. After all, The Hunger Games is set in the future, too. So we started writing with a few basic ideas in mind: the districts sound folky and "natural," and the Capitol has something twisted and glitzy and electric to it. The ensemble of live musicians helped solidify the sound, too - violin and cello can be folky or classical or creepy, the bass recorder has a wonderfully breathy sound to it, and, of course, just about every culture has voice music. As we've expanded our scores, our vocalists have expanded, too, and we now have singers who have folky, innocent voices and some singers who have more trained, polished voices - different sounds to complement the different tones the story takes.
Q. Is this music on iTunes?
A. Yes it is! You can find the first soundtrack on iTunes, Amazon, & Bandcamp, and it is streaming on Spotify as well! The second soundtrack (Vol. II) has just been released on iTunes, Amazon, & Bandcamp as well! All of these services offer legal ways to purchase and download the soundtrack - either as individual tracks or as an entire album! We appreciate your support!
Q. Are you guys really film composers?
A. Yes! We're both definitely real, live composers who have written scores for films as well as music for Off Broadway theater, live concerts, rock musicals, circus acts and even (yes) the occasional accordion polka. The wonderful thing about life as a musician is that no two projects are ever the same, and as long as you're making music and doing what you love, the rest is an adventure! But yes, we are both trained composers (who were also trained as film composers at NYU's film scoring program), and yes, we have scored films that have been through the festival circuit, both in the US and beyond. (If you want to know more about those projects, you can visit our websites, www.edwardunderhillmusic.com and www.mattbukaty.com.)
Q. What is the singer singing in "Loss & Survival" anyway? Do those words mean anything?
A. No. Not in any real language. Using wordless voice can sound beautiful, but sometimes it's just necessary for the voice to have lyrics. The problem then becomes: what should those lyrics be? In the case of "Loss And Survival", Ed didn't want to write "real" lyrics, because that piece is not meant to communicate a clear message. There's something to be said for hearing words, knowing they're words, but not knowing their meaning. It allows you to let go go and just experience the bigger picture. Maybe it communicates something more fundamentally human, but we don't know if we dare go that far.
Q. Will you guys be writing music for Catching Fire and Mockingjay?
A. YES. We just released "The HG Music Project: Volume II", which contains music for Catching Fire! (We are calling it "Volume II" so that those who own the copyright for Catching Fire retain their rights.) You can find it streaming here on our website, and it will soon be on iTunes, Amazon, Bandcamp, and Spotify. Check it out and let us know what you think! As for Mockingjay - as of right now, yes, we have plans to write an unofficial score for Mockingjay as well. We'll keep you updated as the project develops! You can check for updates on our "Contact & Comment" page, or on Facebook.
