Reykjavík Grapevine - jan 2020, Qupperneq 10

10 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 01— 2020
“Yeah, how do I explain it?” composer
Hildur Gu!nadóttir ponders aloud over
the phone. She’s currently in Berlin,
sitting in her studio. “This year, just by
complete accident, both projects that I
worked on—the reception of them—
went beyond my wildest dreams. It’s
been quite incredible.”
The projects in question are two
soundtracks: one for the HBO mini-
series ‘Chernobyl’ and the second for
the Warner Brothers film ‘Joker.’ Call-
ing each work “acclaimed” would be
an understatement—’Chernobyl’ won
Hildur an Emmy award and is currently
nominated for a Grammy, while ‘Joker’
nabbed a Golden Globe and is a favou-
rite to take home an Academy Award.
NO EGO
That said, the two soundtracks could
not be more stylistically different.
For ‘Chernobyl,’ Hildur, a classically
trained cellist, gave her instrument
a break and created a score almost
entirely composed of non-instru-
mental sounds, most of which were
recorded by Hildur inside an actual
nuclear power plant.
“When you’re doing film music you
have to put your ego aside and be a
servant of the story that’s being told,”
she explains, referring to this non-
traditional approach. “So even though
I’m normally more comfortable with
an instrument, I just felt that the story
needed something else,” she says. “it
was quite an easy decision to make.”
SYMBIOTIC SOUNDS
For ‘Joker,’ Hildur found her sound in
the darkest depths of Arthur Fleck’s
character. “The strongest moments of
intense inspiration hit me after read-
ing the script,” she explains. “When
I first found his notes, it hit me like
lightning in my chest. That was my
way into his head and into what I felt
like he wanted to say.”
This resulted in an intensely symbi-
otic relationship between the music,
acting and direction in the film. Hildur
wrote pieces for ‘Joker’ before film-
ing even started, which director Todd
Philips played on set while filming.
Hildur’s work, therefore, became a
literal soundtrack to the creation of the
whole movie.
“The music ended up influencing
the performances, the cinematography
and the whole pacing of the film. So
much so that in scenes like the bath-
room dance, that’s [Joaquin Phoenix’s]
actual response to the music that you
hear in the film,” Hildur explains, with
palpable wonderment in her voice.
“When they sent me the scene, I just
saw Joaquin responding to this music
in exactly the same way in which I had
felt it when I first wrote it. We had
never exchanged a word. It was such a
magical process.”
GIVING AN
EXAMPLE
The critical acclaim and widespread
media attention that both projects
received have thrust Hildur into the
spotlight, a position that she doesn’t
seem fully comfortable inhabiting.
“It’s quite exposing,” she admits. But
she also hopes to use this platform
to encourage other women to join an
industry still dominated by men. She
believes the situation is moving in a
positive direction, but still has a long
way to go.
“I felt a big change after #MeToo.
The film music world was definitely
more aware of the lack of women in
the industry and the numbers say it
all. Even last year, it was only around
1% of the 500 biggest grossing films
had music written by women, so the
numbers are just preposterously low,”
she explains. “But I think the best way
to change that is just to show up and
do the work and just give an example,
both to the industry and to younger
women.”
Hildur’s Golden Globe win inearly
January made history in this regard, as
she became the first solo woman to win
for Best Score.
BACK TO BASICS
This year will prove to be another busy
and varied one for the composer, but in
quite a different way from the previous.
“I’m taking a little bit of a film break,”
she admits. “I’ve had such an unusually
extroverted year, it really feels like it’s
time to go back into my cave.”
Instead, Hildur will inhabit other
areas of the art world. This month sees
the launch of a new exhibition with
Ólafur Elíasson, in which Hildur excit-
edly relays there will be, “a robot play-
ing cello!” Fans can also look forward
to the release of a new album.
But whatever project Hildur takes
on next, you can bet on it being adven-
turous and thrilling. “I feel a sense of
urgency in almost all that work that I
create,” she laughs infectiously. “I’m
someone who doesn’t really do things
halfway.”
“You have to
put your e!o
aside and be
a servant of
the story that’s
bein! told.”
A Year
Like No
Other
THE
REYKJA— VÍK
GRAPE— VINE
MUSIC AWARDS
2 20
ARTIST OF THE YEAR:
HILDUR GU!NADÓTTIR
Organised by: Hannah Jane Cohen
Photos: Magnús Andersen
Photo: Timothée Lambrecq
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Music Awards Panel:
Hannah Jane Cohen,
Chairman of the Panel &
Grapevine's Culture Editor
Alexander Jean Edvard
Le Sage De Fontenay,
Music Journalist
Geoffrey Huntington-
Williams,
Co-Owner of Priki! and
Founder of Sticky Plötuútgáfa
Sigtryggur Baldursson,
Managing Director
of Iceland Music
Maria-Carmela Raso,
Concert Curator & MSEA
Anna Gy"a Sigurgísladóttir,
Radio Personality at RÚV

ARTIST OF THE YEAR,
HILDUR GU!NADÓTTIR
TALKS TO US ABOUT
INSPIRATION, #METOO
AND THE ART OF TELL"
ING A STORY.
Words: Josie Gaitens