One of the most striking components of the hit BBC thriller Broadchurch was its unnerving score. Swooping strings and spectral piano ratcheted up the otherworldliness, contributing another layer of creepiness to this baroque whodunnit set in deepest Dorset.
“Broadchurch was huge — in English speaking countries especially,” says Ólafur Arnalds, the Icelandic musician behind the acclaimed soundtrack. “It definitely helped a lot in those parts of the world. Obviously it’s big in England — it’s an English TV show. And it is big in Australia too. But then you go to other countries and they’ve never heard of it.”
Broadchurch made stars of its leads, Olivia Colman and David Tennant. It has also elevated the profile of Arnalds, with the show’s creator Chris Chibnall revealing that the brooding tone was informed by the composer’s writing. “The entire feel of the show was inspired by his music,” Chibnall would say Arnalds, too, took a great deal away from the experience — one of the most challenging he had yet undertaken. “I created eight hours of music for it — that’s 12 albums. After you’ve done that, you’ve learned a couple of things, for sure.”
Arnalds, who comes to Ireland next week for concerts in Dublin and Cork – as part of Triskel’s 40th anniversary celebrations – was regarded as a talent to watch long before Broadchurch. His by turns stark and complicated contemporary music has seen him heralded as one of Iceland’s most acclaimed young musicians and a worthy successor to Bjork, Sigur Ros, etc.
He also lives an intriguing second life as one half of the electronic duo Kiasmos — whose quicksilver grooves could not be further removed from the intricate ennui of his Broadchurch score. “The energy is much calmer at the theatre shows,” he says.
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