Soundtracking with Edith Bowman

Our latest guests on Soundtracking are members of a band I hugely admire, who have done plenty sterling work on film and television in addition to their studio albums.Stuart Braithwaite and Barry Burns are half of Mogwai, whose screen work includes The Returned, Atomic, Zidane, The Fountain, Before The Flood and ZeroZeroZero. Their latest album, meanwhile, is As The Love Continues, which reached number one in the UK charts and was also nominated for a Mercury Prize. 

This week's episode of Soundtracking sees us joined by a fantastically gifted and humble screenwriter, whose work includes Skins, This is England 86, 88 & 90, His Dark Materials, The Eddy and Enola Holmes,  Jack Thorne's latest offering is Help, a show which Edith absolutely loved and is available on All 4 now. Starring Jodie Comer and Stephen Graham, Help tells the story of Sarah, a care home worker who looks after Tony, a man beset by Alzheimer's far to young - as if there's ever a good time. It's an exceedingly powerful piece of storytelling - and a profound, moving and poignant reflection on some of the serious questions raised about British society's priorities in the wake of the pandemic.

Our latest guest on Soundtracking is a producer and director who has worked extensively in theatre and film, most famously (in cinematic terms, at least) on Mamma Mia and The Iron Lady, which saw Meryl Streep win an Oscar for best actress. Phyllida Lloyd's latest offering is Herself. Written by and starring Clare Dunne, Herself tells the story of Sandra - a struggling single mum who decides to build her own home when the housing authority refuses to offer her one. In doing so, she rediscovers herself with the help of a kindly community, only for her abusive ex-husband to return to haunt her ... The film is scored by former guest on this show Natalie Holt, and we must say thank you to her for sending us her unreleased music from the film.

We've been wanting to put out this latest episode of Soundtracking for some time now, featuring as it does two people who were instrumental in bringing us Black Widow.First up is our old pal Lorne Balfe, returning to the podcast for a third time to discuss his excellent score for the film. Then we'll bring you a chat Edith had with director Cate Shortland, who's put a very distinctive spin on the story of Natasha Romanov.If you haven't seen it, it is still showing in a few cinemas, but is also available on Disney+ to customers with Premier access, and coming out on blu-ray and DVD on 13th September. It's cracking fun, and both Lorne and Cate have brought plenty new to the MCU table.

Our latest guest is a composer who has been on the podcast before, but is appearing by herself for the first time. Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch joined me, Carly Paradis and Amelia Warner for a very special Soundtracking Live at the BFI back in June 2019. In this episode, she's here to discuss her work on Censor, a smart, scary British horror which is out in cinemas now.  Directed by Prano Bailey-Bond and starring Niamh Algar, the film tells the story of Enid, a video nasty censor who links a particularly disturbing movie with the disappearance of her sister.  It is beautifully scored by Emilie - at once acknowledging the classic video nasties of the 70s and 80s while having its own distinctive voice. And the good news is, it's soon to be released on vinyl by our good pals at Invada Records. Hurrah!

Our latest guest on Soundtracking is an Italian screenwriter and director who is absolutely charming company - and super-talented to boot.Ferdinando Cito Filomarino - or Ferdy for short! - has collaborated multiple times with former guest on this show, Luca Guadagnino, and also brought us a couple of feature films of his own. The latest of these is Beckett, which you can watch now on Netflix. Starring John David Washington and Alicia Vikander, Beckett tells the story of a tourist who becomes the subject of a manhunt following an accident while holidaying in Greece. Excitingly, Ferdy's film is scored by none other than Ryuichi Sakamoto - who provides a typically layered soundscape. As always, we'll pepper plenty of his music throughout the conversation.

Our latest guest on soundtracking is an artist whose name has featured numerous times on Soundtracking, such is his stock in the world of film composition.Tyler Bates is the former lead guitarist for Marilyn Manson - but has, since the early 2000s, focussed the majority of his attention on movie scoring, working on projects like John Wick, Guardians Of The Galaxy and Watchmen.His latest offering is Dark Nights: Death Metal, a companion piece to the hugely successful series of comics and graphic novels by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. As ever, we'll hear examples of Tyler's music throughout the conversation.

We're 5 years old this week - hurrah!!! - and to celebrate our birthday, we thought we thought we'd go back to where it all began by speaking to Ben Wheatley, who appeared in the very first episode of Soundtracking and returns (appropriately enough) for a fifth time.Ben joined us with his longtime producer Andy Starke to discuss their film In The Earth, which was made in lockdown with all the considerable difficulties that brought.Set during a deadly global pandemic, In The Earth tells the story of a scientist and a park scout who embark on a mission to find a renegade botanist, conducting research into plant life deep in the woods. Much hallucinogenic mayhem ensues, referencing everything from Hammer horror to Hansel and Gretel and Dr Who, not to mention Ben's previous work.In The Earth is scored by our old friend Clint Mansell - who even rigged up his house plants to create sounds that feature in the music. Wonderful stuff ...

It's a triple header on this week's Soundtracking, as Edith is joined first by Edgar Wright to discuss his first foray into documentary filmmaking - The Sparks Brothers - and then by Russell and Ron themselves - the groundbreaking duo who've been smashing the mould for half a century.As well as getting the lowdown on his doc from Edgar, Russell and Ron, we also find out about Annette, the screen musical written by the brothers, which stars Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard and was directed by Leos Carax.Then, of course, there's the odd anthem to feast your ears on!

Our latest guests on Soundtracking are a couple of young ladies who wowed Kevin Feige and his team at Marvel to collaborate on the studio's latest offering on Disney+. No mean feat, given the history of the franchise, and we couldn't be happier for them that they smashed it out of the park. Director Kate Herron and composer Natalie Holt combined to magnificent effect on Loki, the mind-bending take on the Norse god of mischief, as played by recent guest on this podcast, Tom Hiddleston.  We talk Easter eggs, the theremin, Tom's pissed singing and much, much more in this thoroughly enjoyable conversation.