In 2024, film music refused to play second fiddle.
Rumbling, humming, and sometimes whispering into the soul of every frame, these weren’t just background tunes dutifully serving the narrative; They were unruly dark horses in their own right – challenging, innovative (to press / to press), sometimes stealing the spotlight even from the scripts they were supposed to support.
The scores of the year ranged from the achingly minimalist – a single piano note that takes your breath away – to the orchestral cataclysm that snatched away our attention for every last second. And they weren’t just there to set the tone; Rather, he built the emotional foundation of his films, symphonic brick by brick.
Whether bold and furious or calm and unsettling, music demands attention. Together, these scores represent the full spectrum of what film music can achieve.
This year’s music has been the connective tissue – the device that made each wide shot and quiet pause last longer. It was cheeky, weird, and spectacularly unforgettable – just like the films it helped bring to life. A reminder that the right tone, played at the right time, can shape a moment as powerfully as any line of dialogue or camera angle, and turn a good scene into something truly great.
monumental and minimalist
Take the great work of Daniel Blumberg brutalistFor example. Here, music became sound architecture. Inspired by the imposing concrete monolith that defines the titular aesthetic, Blumberg layered sparse piano with sudden bursts of orchestral flair, jazz flourishes, and even retro synths. The music felt made of concrete – harsh but unexpectedly tender in its quieter moments. Years of careful recording with elite musicians across Europe bore rich fruit, the score’s jagged crescendos and delicate diminuendos created a towering sonic edifice that stands out beyond Brady Corbett’s epic.
Our Top Tracks: “Overture (Ship)”, “Steel”
Equally adventurous were the two-time Oscar-winning Nine Inch Nails duo, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who doubled their output this year with Luca Guadagnino’s score. Challengers And WeirdFor ChallengersThe pair pioneered French electro and techno à la Daft Punk, turning tennis matches into euphoric raves. The rhythmic thump of tennis balls became percussive punctuation between the beats, turning each set into a sweaty, high-stakes dance-off.
Our Top Tracks: “Signal”, “Compress/Compress”
During this time, Weird A quieter, more meditative approach was seen – a swirl of woodwinds and piano that melted into feverish electronic textures. If Challengers was a blow through unbridled physicality and athletic abandon, Weird It was a gentle, disturbing plunge into the depths of longing, demonstrating once again that this composer-director duo is as astonishingly prolific as it is wildly inventive.
Our Top Tracks: “Pure love”, “love.”
Volker Bertelmann, basking in the glow of his Oscar All Quiet on the Western Front, In his second collaboration with Eduard Berger the chaos of the Great War was replaced by the secret intrigues of papal politics. conclaveThe German composer presented a claustrophobic arrangement of strings that expressed both the grandeur of the Vatican and the personal suffering hidden beneath the cassocks. The centerpiece was a three-note motif that spiraled into a crescendo, much like the plots at the core of the film. Yet, in its closing track, Bertelman allowed light to penetrate age-old shadows – a vastly cathartic orchestral resolution that suggested that even the staunchest of institutions could find a glimpse of salvation.
Our Top Tracks: “Walk Through Rain”, “Postlude of Conclave”
subtle sounds, big feelings
Not all scores scream for attention. Some like the collaboration of Gints Zilbalodis and Rihards Zalupe FlowWhispering talent flourished. The Latvian animated odyssey of a lonely cat traversing a submerged, humanless world relies on its music to find its voice amid the quiet mystery of its setting. Their collaboration combined chimes, strings, synths and drones to make the music as fluid as muddy water. The understated atmosphere of the score didn’t draw attention away, rather, it pulled us into this breathtaking world where sound often says more than the dialogue.
Our Top Tracks: “Drift”, “Reflection”
‘Chris Bowers brought something completely different to DreamWorks’ wild robotThis quirky story of parenthood between a robot and a gosling needed a score that could balance surprise, thrill, and sadness. Combining orchestral melodies with synth flourishes and inventive percussion, Bowers created a jungle that felt universal and timeless, promising a second life as a playlist staple for families everywhere.
Our Top Tracks: “I could use a boost”, “I have everything I need”
Meanwhile, Alex Gee scores for Jan Schonbrunn. I saw the glow of the TV It was an act of pure, blatant defiance. Drenched in static and dissonance, the music feels less composed than imagined, perfectly capturing the film’s final nightmare. Every note felt like an echo from another dimension, a daring score that didn’t ask permission to disturb your thoughts.
Our Top Tracks: “Opening Theme from Pink Opaque”, “Blue Glow”
And Bryce Dessner’s score for A24 sing Sing defied expectations with its chamber orchestral sounds, distancing itself from the clichés of prison dramas. Dessner’s music was plaintive, pastoral, and achingly beautiful—serving only to remind that even in the claustrophobic confines of America’s ailing prison industrial complex, there is room for solace, hope, and joy.
Our Top Tracks: “Song and Dance”, “Seven Years of Curtain Calls”
all that jazz
In blue demonGrammy-winning pianist Hiromi Uehara breathed life into jazz in a way that felt electric. The story of aspiring saxophonist Dai Miyamoto needed music that could match his unbridled passion, and Uehara channeled the immortal spirit of Coltrane and Rollins into a score that pulsates with raw energy. Frantic piano riffs and triumphant sax crescendos depict the emotional ups and downs of a coming-of-age journey, leading to blue demon As much a symphonic masterpiece as it is cinematic.
Our Top Tracks: “New”, “First Note”
in aaron shimberg a different manUmberto Smarilli’s jazzy, noir-inflected score adds layers of paranoia and pathos. The music alternated between moods – moody, playful, scary – reflecting the protagonist’s spiraling sense of self. It’s a clever little score that’s as unsettling as the tone of the film, and a perfect fit for Schimberg’s terrifying vision.
Our Top Tracks: “A different man: “Chasing”
Elsewhere, Payal Kapadia’s darling We imagine everything as light Offering a masterclass in moderation. Topshe’s melancholy synths capture the film’s anguished sense of disconnection, the simplicity of the score belying its emotional depth, demonstrating how minimalism can cut as deeply as broad statements.
Our Top Tracks: “Anu’s Song 1”, “Imagined Light”
Nostalgia and reconstruction
Naoki Sato’s orchestral storm for the Japanese icon’s first Oscar-winning journey Godzilla: Minus One Kaiju turned into a ship to relieve Japan’s post-war misery. Its seismic shifts between intimacy and bombast reflected the weakness of human resilience against nature’s fury. Threading the unmistakable motifs of the late, great Akira Ifukube with his own droning orchestrations, Sato’s compositions are just as vast and terrifying as the titular beast – a score that feels both reverent and innovative, and a fitting tribute to a monster. What has always been there has exceeded its size.
Our Top Tracks: “Godzilla-1.0 Divine”, “Godzilla-1.0 Resolve”
Meanwhile, Robin Carolan’s score for Robert Eggers Nosferatu Leaning towards Gothic decadence, Eastern European instrumentals combined with disturbing sound design served up a feast of terror and doomed romanticism. Carolan captures both the sweeping horrors of Transylvania and the intimate tragedy of Count Orlok’s obsession in a way that crawls under your skin.
Our Top Tracks: “Come to me”, “Lilacs”
On the other hand, Benjamin Wallfisch took on Fede Alvarez Alien: Romulus into uncharted territory, weaving a score that paid homage to the franchise’s iconic legacy of music, while carving out its own distressed space. Wallfisch’s score introduces three distinct themes – optimistic, serious and malevolent – ​​all interconnected yet stylistically distinct. Paying homage to Jerry Goldsmith’s haunting original score, James Horner’s bombastic brass, and Harry Gregson-Williams’ ethereal modern motifs, Wallfish juxtaposes nostalgia with dangerous novelty.
Our Top Tracks: “The Chrysalis”, “That’s Our Son”
And then there was Hans Zimmer, revisiting the themes of his Oscar-winning score from Denis Villeneuve’s first installment. Dune: Part 2While its reuse of motifs from the previous film may have kept it out of the Oscar race this year, it doesn’t detract from the score’s monumental impact. It was Zimmer’s most reflective and proof that even amid sandworm-ridden space battles, there’s room for quieter, more powerful grace.
Our top tracks: “The beginning is a very delicate time”, “I will be the only one”
And Dalit…
We’d be remiss without mentioning the cinematic debut of an outrageous Irish rap trio who turned their diegetic soundtrack into a fiery manifesto of resistance. Now in the running for Oscars in two different categories, Kneecap lends his lyrical grit and biting political commentary to his film of the same name, delivering infectious tracks that fuse Irish and English in a celebration of the rebellion that took place in Northern Ireland. culminating in a narrative crescendo involving the year 2022. Identity and Language Act. By the end, Kneecap’s music feels like a battle cry for the disenfranchised, a poetic capstone to the trio’s meteoric rise.
Our Top Tracks: “Headache”, “Hood”
(This piece includes music from films or soundtrack albums that were released in India in 2024)
published – December 20, 2024 01:40 PM IST
