PLAY

Jóhann Jóhannsson: 'Arrival' (Trailer)

It sometimes feels like 'Arrival' didn't get the credit it deserves for defining an entirely new sci-fi aesthetic. Then again, maybe that's because it was hard for it to be influential: that aesthetic is so subtle, so refined, so textural that there's no way for people to imitate as they could' Star Wars', 'Blade Runner' or 'Predator'. And Jóhannsson's music, sailing into advanced electronica territory, was an absolutely integral part of that. The film's core concerns are an impossibly fine balance between agonising loss and daring to hope, and the distant possibility of a language of a language more nuanced and more powerful than our wet, fleshy tones. And somehow that's all here in 'Heptapod B' - the theme tune for one of the movie's alien entities that you can hear throughout this clip. All Jóhannsson's normal depth of sadness and yearning is there, but absolutely shot through with anticipation and childlike wonder too.

  • Joe Muggs