Johann Johannsson - Last And First Men - 2LP (LP)

Reissue - While composing haunting concept albums and groundbreaking soundtracks such as for Denis Villeneuve's “Arrival”, the award-winning Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson had been thinking about an even bigger project since 2010 - a multimedia total work of art that would encompass his own visual concept, direction and music. Based on the cult science fiction novel of the same name by Olaf Stapledon, Jóhann Jóhannsson artfully combines music, film and narrative spoken by Hollywood star Tilda Swinton in his opus Magnum Last and First Men to create a poetic meditation on memory and loss. Images of a decaying futuristic landscape - filmed in 16mm black and white in the former Yugoslavia - combine with Jóhannssons poignantly.

Orchestra score written over seven years. At the time of Jóhannsson's sudden death in 2018, he was still working on Last and First Men, with the Berlin-based composer and sound artist Yair Elazar Glotman at his side, who subsequently completed the score. For the recordings, there were also Jóhannsson's long-standing, close musical companions such as Grammy & Oscar winner Hildur Guðnadóttir (vocals, cello, drums), members of the Theater of Voices and many others. together to complete his breathtaking work.