Web: hogni.net
Most recent: Apex
Högni Egilsson’s career is vast. It has included playing in bands (like indie rock act Hjaltalín and electronic group GusGus), composing concerts (his Symphony No. 1 was premiered by the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra), songwriting solo (including the Nordic Music Prize-nominated album Two Trains), and scoring a growing body of television and films. To write the music for the recent Netflix thriller Apex, Egilsson spent two months on location in Australia’s Blue Mountains. As soon as his family landed in Sydney, he said he was immediately inspired by the sounds of the country. “The moment I stepped out, I heard the sounds of birds and insects in the trees. The fauna is totally different from Europe and America. You start to imagine what the film’s characters hear,” he says. “These sounds of the forest and wild haunt you, and I wanted to orchestrate it and bring it into the symphonic language."
The resulting score balances two contrasting musical worlds; one of melodic themes for the human characters and animalistic chaos for the wilderness, which created an interplay that inspired Egilsson. “I always thought going into the woods was a magical endeavor, and I used sounds and tones to bring out the gothic magic for the lead character when she first enters the forest. Then, when things start to unravel and the suspense starts building, the music takes on the character of the wilderness. I wanted to emphasize this dream-like quality, almost like Alice chasing the rabbit down a hole.”
Egilsson’s advice to aspiring composers is: “You can never underestimate the power of study and curiosity and the real result that gives you. If you love music and are fascinated by it and you hear something and try to understand what it is, it will always remain a mystery and result in creative output.” And he adds that the quality of writing is any artist’s biggest asset. “I don’t think the answer is getting to know anybody specific, or going to a panel of composers—not to talk badly about that,” he says. “But I really think the music you make is your passport in your career.”
