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Paul Saunderson’s expansive and complex score for BBC Studio’s landmark TV series ‘Earth’, presented by Chris Packham. The first episode, ‘Inferno’ (broadcast on Monday 17th July 2023) saw the release of an artist-curated 5 track EP, ‘Earth: One Planet. Many Lives’. Then followed by the entire album score (released August 22nd).
Using the latest science and technology, the 5-part series tells the astonishing 4.5-billion-year story of our Earth. The series takes us back in time to reveal the Earth’s most significant events and draws parallels with climate change today. Composer Paul Saunderson perfectly captures the spirit of the Epic TV series by introducing gravitas and drama to underpin the struggles and successes of our planet’s history. Saunderson explains “I wanted the music to constantly give this sense of awe and wonder, combining very modal classical harmonies and progressions using a large live orchestra accompanied with a combination of modern synths, vocals, guitars, a range of instrumental soloists and percussion bedded with a plethora of uniquely manipulated found sounds and instruments, bespoke sound beds and other worldly textures to help further transport the viewer back in time to these alien like, unrecognisable images of our planet. Each episode looks at a different time period of our Earth, Inferno, Snowball, Green, Atmosphere and finally Human. Sonically each episode has its own pallet and instrumentation, with recurring thematic melodies and harmonies that give cohesion to the score.”
The album’s centre piece and entry point is the original song ‘Never Close Enough’, written in collaboration with an emerging artist SIPHO and used predominantly in the trailer for Earth. Paul met SIPHO at the Ivor Novello Awards 2022.
He was looking for an exciting new talent with a voice that could feel at home with such an epic piece of music and not get overwhelmed, and SIPHO was just the voice and talent for the song. An extension of the score, drawing on the same melodies, harmonies and instrumentation, it distils the album while showcasing SIPHO’s astonishing vocal talent.
With over 80 credits in Film & TV, Paul Saunderson has proved himself to be a vastly experienced British film composer and multi-instrumentalist, who is as equally at home with orchestras as he is with contemporary music.
His more recent work includes RAW’s BAFTA nominated and Academy Award shortlisted feature Three Identical Strangers, Left Bank’s long running action TV show Strike Back and Apple TV’s hit comedy series Trying. Saunderson learnt his craft working as arranger/programmer and additional composer on over 35 feature films including Kick-Ass, Coriolanus, Black Sea, Johnny English: Reborn, 47 Ronin and Shaun The Sheep: The Movie. He was an assistant to the award winning composer llan Eshkeri and production assistant to Grammy award winning film music producer Steve McLaughlin.
Paul has also written arrangements for a variety of recording artists including Coldplay, Kasabian, The Cinematic Orchestra, and Guy Garvey of ELBOW.
The collaboration with Guy has led to a fruitful partnership resulting in the recent scoring of Apple TV’s Trying and Mike Bartlett’s acclaimed 2020 BBC series Life. Recently, Paul has completed work on Balloon Entertainment’s musical drama Champion.
EP tracklist
1. Earth
2. Earth Creation
3. Planet Reborn
4. The Rains
5. Earth’s Story
Album tracklist
1. Never Close Enough
2. Our Living World
3. Pangea
4. Green Earth
5. In The Beginning
6. Triassic Earth
7. Earth Creation
8. Our Atmosphere
9. A New World
10. Earth’s Story
11. Atmospheric Instability
12. Planet Reborn
13. Competing For Light
14. Snowball Earth
15. Continents
16. Genesis
17. The Rains
18. Plant Transformation
19. Riding
20. Something Is Stirring
21. New Frontiers
22. Adaptation
23. Never The Same Again
24. Tectonic Shifting
25. Prototaxites
26. Pangea Recovery
27. The Rifting
28. A Changed Planet
29. On The Brink
30. Warming Planet
31. The Blue Sky
32. Desolate Winter
33. Ice Retreats
34. The Great Dying
35. Impact
36. Downward Spiral
37. Glorious Summer
38. Ice Age
39. Fungi Mission
40. Temperature Rise
41. Earth
