Top ten film scores of 2015

It's difficult to develop best-of lists, as one is always plagued by what is not included. Also, most people who follow film music already know about what happened with the big names (this year it's almost impossible to not know John Williams has a new Star Wars score), and so they don't need any more prominence. What best-of lists can really do well is to highlight work that maybe went a little under the radar — or excellent music that was under-acknowledged as part of a successful movie.

So, with that, here's an inkling of what came out this year that especially pinged my ears. These are presented here in no particular order.

Love & Mercy, Atticus Ross

This was a film about Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys, so it was expected to mostly sound like Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys — but what has gone a bit unrecognized are the contributions of frequent Trent Reznor collaborator Atticus Ross, whose arrangements and sound design allowed this film to delve into the layers of Wilson's art and mind. By eloquently combining his work with that of Wilson, Atticus creates a world of experience so immersive that you almost don't notice it.

Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, Will Bates

Much of this film's success was due to the compositions of Will Bates, who explored the complexities of the subject with avant-garde sound arrangements and complexly manipulated themes. In April, I spoke with Bates about his work and how much effort he put into telling the story with the filmmakers. Evidence of his commitment and efforts is the theme, titled "Going Clear."

Z for Zachariah, Heather McIntosh

McIntosh is steadily becoming an incredible composer, with each film adding new tools to her compositional sensibilities. With Z for Zachariah, there was an early need for music that could be played on a pump organ by one of the main characters; that informed a balance of strings and distant percussion acting as almost an echo from the mountains surrounding the film's tale.

The Hateful Eight, Ennio Morricone

A big reason Tarantino's new film has gained significance is that it brought Ennio Morricone back to the genre he so defined. It's also the genre that got his career started. While some of the original score actually comes from unused material he composed for John Carpenter's film The Thing, there is also substantial material original to this film that exhibits Morricone's unwavering talents — he now has over 500 film credits.

Coming Home, Qigang Chen

I am not sure how much to say other than that this work by Qigang Chen is simply stunning. She is an incredible composer who has found ways of maintaining her unmatched sensibilities in translating her work to film. With Chen not being a household name, this is a welcome addition to what was produced this year in movie music.

'71, David Holmes

Many consider this film a 2014 release, but it came stateside at the beginning of 2015. David Holmes, a man most recognized for his work with Steven Soderbergh on the Ocean's trilogy, created something so eloquent and necessary for the film to work that it is hard to not sit back in awe. Holmes is one of the unsung heroes of film of the last few years and this is one of his best scores to date as he balances rhythms and orchestrations that not only exemplify the world of the film, but provide further narrative contextualization that allows the film to speak to our current times.

Comet by Daniel Hart

I've been lucky enough to have spoken with Daniel Hart a couple times in his career — first regarding his score to the film Ain't Them Bodies Saints, and secondly for this year's The Girlfriend Game. He continues to diversify his palette, and with this score for the little-seen Comet he again provides reason to pay attention. He has a deeply-rooted sense of pop song schematics, which he utilizes brilliantly in his arrangements: knowing just when to make music a character and when to pull way back.

Steve Jobs, Daniel Pemberton

After much promotion, Steve Jobs kind of came and went very quickly. While many debate over its successes and failures as a film, Daniel Pemberton's score is a standout this year: he keeps getting better and better. Utilizing classical orchestrations to establish the grandness of Steve Jobs's thought, he balances that with a kinetic electronica in kinship with Reznor's and Ross's score for The Social Network — but with a unique operatic grandness.

Mad Max: Fury Road, Tom Holkenborg aka Junkie XL

Mad Max gained way more acclaim this year than anyone expected, and a big portion of its aesthetic is the music of Tom Holkenborg — who has been assisting Hans Zimmer for years, but is starting to gain more acclaim as a composer in his own right. On first listen it could seem that this is a redundant action extravaganza, but it's the music beneath the top level that is truly stunning and after repeated listens one realizes how stunning it is to have such a dense and complicated score masquerading as a traditional action set piece.

The Gift, Saunder Jurriaans

The Gift was wrongly marketed as a cheap stalker film, when it's really about the longstanding effects of childhood abuse and how it defines your character. In another world this would have been presented in a similar vein to Prisoners, with its tempered rhythm and attention to structure. Much of the film's effect is instilled by Saunder Jurriaans score, which always seems to be providing exactly what the film needs while also complicating the viewer's consideration of what's going on.

Queen of Earth, Keegan DeWitt

It's rare for a score to come along and truly surprise one with its technique and sensibility. Much of Keegan Dewitt's score is sparse, but that doesn't mean it's minimal. The musical ideas here are so penetrating precisely because they focus on key sounds rather than bombarding you with too much. Bells and woodwinds are predominant, and the application to these pieces is nothing short of awe-inspiring. In a world where much can sound the same, the score for Queen of Earth stands apart.

Garrett Tiedemann is a writer, filmmaker and composer who owns the multimedia lab CyNar Pictures and its record label American Residue Records.

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