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The Green Planet, Benji Merrison and Will Slater’s lush and atmospheric soundtrack to BBC Earth’s 5-episode TV series narrated by David Attenborough. The series takes place across five worlds – tropical, water, seasonal, desert and human and shows these worlds from a plant’s eye view. It treats plants as protagonists and follows their story at their own pace, whilst they strive to reproduce, communicate, and survive. The Guardian describes the viewing experience “From glowing bioluminescent fungus to 7,000 different camera set-ups for ants, the veteran broadcaster’s miraculous profile of plant life will have you gasping in astonishment so often you’ll be breathless”.

The original soundtrack was composed by Benji Merrison and Will Slater. “The challenge was to create a score which allows the audience to connect with plants on an emotional level, much more of a conundrum than when scoring for the animal kingdom.” says Benji Merrison. He then describes the composition process “We recorded a number of experimental sessions, using unconventional instrumentation, both acoustic and electronic. We also experimented recording electronic signals from plants, and translating this into audio. For the more traditional sound elements, we recorded individual orchestral sections, building up a library of textures, phrases and orchestral colours. A kind of ‘modular’ musical kit of parts. During the ‘coal-face’ period of the scoring, we re-sampled ourselves, by processing and integrating these modular components into aspects of the final cues, finishing them off with additional recording sessions. This created a sort of ‘real, but not real’ sound, which was very effective in bringing the audience inside the surreal wonder of the plant world.”

Benji Merrison & Will Slater

Acclaimed multi-disciplinary music masters in their own right, Benji Merrison and Will Slater are now creating sounds for the screen together calling upon their collective experience from a music and arts education, work producing and touring records, as well composing for Film & TV. Their working partnership started when they were commissioned to score the popular BBC David Attenborough series Dynasties in 2018, for which they received nominations from the IFMCA and News and Documentary Emmys, followed by Meerkat – A Dynasties Special and Missile from the East. Benji is an award-winning classically trained composer and a skilled music producer and engineer. His distinctive musical voice is in high demand, and he is known for SAS: Red Notice (for which he received the World Soundtrack Award), Forces of Nature with Brian Cox, Dynasties, General Magic and The Beatles and India. Will Slater has been composing for television for close to 20 years and his extensive CV includes the RTS winning score Africa, Planet Earth Live, Dynasties, Shark and One Strange Rock.

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DISC ONE

THE GREEN PLANET
1. Green Planet Title

TROPICAL WORLDS
2. Hyperlapse
3. Change is Coming
4. Race For Light
5. Phosphorescent Forest
6. Formation of Rain
7. Ancient Rainforest
8. Kinkajoo
9. Skygardens
10. Rafflesia
11. Dipterocarps
12. Fine White Threads
13. Invaders of the Forest
14. Seven Hour Flower
15. Reconnecting Fragments

WATER WORLDS
16. Arriving in their Thousands
17. Emerald Kingdom
18. Pantanal
19. Plant Nemesis
20. Rapidly Growing Leaf
21. Change in the Weather
22. Ever Deeper Water
23. Share of the Sun
24. Cano Cristales
25. Waterworld in the Sky
26. Bladderwort
27. Blood Red Tentacles
28. Quarter of a Million
29. Many Precious Seeds
30. Coast of Formentera
31. Seagrass

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DISC TWO

DESERT WORLDS
1. Deserts Title
2. Once in a Decade
3. Masters of Disguise
4. Stone Plant
5. Perfect Deception
6. Signals and Veins
7. Cholla Buds
8. Inhospitable Island
9. Baobabs
10. Saguaro Strategy
11. Fragmentation

SEASONAL WORLDS
12. Hero Seed
13. Sugar Maples
14. Little Solar Panels
15. Lurking in the Shadows
16. Catching the Scent
17. Hammer Orchid
18. Temperatures Rise
19. Fire Lilies
20. Lifting Them Higher
21. Seasonal Forest Floors
22. More Vulnerable Than Ever
23. Changing Climate

HUMAN WORLDS
24. Weeds
25. Anchor Points
26. Meghalaya
27. Ancestral Grasses
28. Living Bridges
29. Agricultural Spectacle
30. Cloud Forest
31. Almond Flowers
32. Finding a Balance
33. Returning The Land
34. A Greener Planet