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Jeroen Swinnen’s dark Symphonic score for the Channel 4’s Bristol Noir remake of Sweden crime series Innan Dör, starring Lesley Sharp and Patrick Gibson.

The Scandi-style 6-episode crime drama’s look and feel is commented on by the Arts Desk – “The action has been transplanted to Bristol, whose buildings, bridges and narrow streets have been rendered atmospheric with rich colour textures and stylish visual compositions. The opening credits, with ominously pulsating music and dramatic monochrome portraits of the cast-members, also suggests we’ve stepped away a little from the Brit-TV norm.”

Depicting the tenebrous world of the crime-world, the score is, consciously, never allowed to rise above the strings mid-register. Harmonic clashes often feel protractedly strained, depicting the feelings and inner worlds of the characters. The tender, romantic piano theme Croatians (Bianca), is reserved for the youngest child of the Mimica family, uninvolved in the family’s criminal activity but very much affected by it. Her brother Davor’s theme, Croatians (Davor), is given a cello line that never breaks free from the confined, orchestral mid-register, dwelling on the hidden desperation of choices once made.

Jeroen talks about his creative experience: “In many series these days the music tends to be more of a minimalistic underscore for the scenes it supports. It is usually a matter of ‘less is more’. For the score of ‘Before We Die’ I was constantly challenged to do more, give it more energy, bigger melodies, more drama, bigger action, and I loved every bit of it! To compose a soundtrack to the poetic and filmic style of director Jan Matthys was a gift and a challenge at the same time. It is quite rare to get that much space from a director.”

“I always record my scores with the same team, the Casco Phil Chamber Orchestra, in Dada Studios in the centre of Brussels. I will never forget the players’ smiling faces when they were recording the music whilst watching the images. The poetic style of filming, combined with the score I wrote, really touched the musicians. They put their heart and soul into it which is the biggest gift for a composer!”

Jeroen Swinnen is a classically trained Belgian composer, multi-instrumentalist, producer and songwriter. Coming from a rich and varied musical background, Jeroen is known for mingling various influences, crossing brooding string scores with electro-synthpop, post-rock and indie sounds. After years of touring and headlining festivals with Belpop’s finest art-pop acts, Jeroen has recently started writing television soundtracks, including the acclaimed score for Hotel Beau Séjour, Transport and The Twelve on Netflix.

Tracklist

1. Krajina
2. Requiem for a Lover
3. Hannah
4. The Mimica Family
5. The Mimica’s Mansion
6. Reinstated
7. A Cruel Family History
8. Croatians (Davor)
9. Unconditional
10. Snitch
11. Boat To Belgium
12. Croatians (Bianca)
13. I Know That Guy
14. Guilt
15. This is Krajina
16. Hunters
17. Tranquilize
18. The Chase
19. Heart Over Head
20. New Beginnings
21. Dark Place