Category Archives: Switched On

New music – Oliver Coates – Pillion OST (A24 Music)

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by Ben Hogwood, from the press release

Today, Glasgow-based cellist, composer, and producer Oliver Coates releases his original score for Pillion, the acclaimed directorial debut from filmmaker Harry Lighton. The soundtrack’s physical release will coincide with the film’s US distribution in February, 2026 via A24.

Based on Adam Mars-Jones’ 2020 novel Box Hill and starring Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgård, the British queer romantic comedy-drama film premiered in May at the 78th Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Un Certain Regard’s Best Screenplay prize alongside nominations for the Caméra d’Or and the Queer Palm. Pillion most recently won Best Independent British Film, Best Debut Screenwriter, Best Costume Design and Best Makeup and Hair Design at the BIFAs, as well as Best Adapted Screenplay at the Gotham Awards. The film is currently screening in UK theaters and is releasing February 6, 2026 in the US.

The score is romantic and melancholic, with wide-spaced music-hall melodies and rich harmonies. Piano-driven compositions are accompanied by spacey synth flourishes and haunting vocals from chrysanthemum bear, Nick Roder, and acclaimed Danish artist ML Buch. The rumbling and leather of distorted experimental cello techniques were the starting point – a granular imitation of bike engines.

Recording between Glasgow and Copenhagen, before final mixing by Christopher Elms in London, what results is a romantic electro-classical soundtrack (including a synth rendition of Erik Satie’s Gymnopédie no.1) that feels akin to flying down an open road on a speeding bike.

Speaking on the score, Coates shares: “The score of Pillion came together with the brilliant shaping of director Harry Lighton, as we navigated rumbling time-stretched cello drones through to music-hall romance and bittersweet leaping melodies. There are many different keys, synths, voices and strings which swell and pulse to maximise a radiant sense of comedy mingling with melancholy. There were invaluable musical contributions from ML Buch on vocals, Lena Douglas on pianos, chrysanthemum bear and Nick Roder also on vocals, Tom Lessels and Kathryn Williams on woodwinds.”

Pillion follows Coates’ 2024 solo album Throb, shiver, arrow of time (RVNG Intl), which drew attention from Pitchfork, The Quietus, The Guardian, and more, as well as his celebrated scores for Aftersun (Charlotte Wells), The Stranger (Thomas Wright), and Occupied City (Steve McQueen), among other films.

Coates’ collaborative nature has led him to move fluidly between the roles of composer, performer, musician, and producer. Alongside his solo work, he is active across experimental, classical, and popular music, contributing to acclaimed live and recorded projects with Mica Levi, Arca, Dean Blunt, Jonny Greenwood, Malibu, and Joanne Robertson.

Listen to previews from the soundtrack at Boomkat, with the physical release due in February 2026 via A24 Music.

Published post no.2,746 – Friday 12 December 2025

Switched On – Daniel Brandt – Without Us Reworks / Remixes (Erased Tapes)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Back in March, Daniel Brandt released his third solo album Without Us, described as “a multimedia project that clashes head on with the spiralling chaos of our times”. In our review earlier this year, Arcana noted its “almost irresistible urgency”. Now it returns in remixed form, with Daniel – one third of celebrated German beatmakers Brandt Brauer Frick – taking up the story:

“I invited close collaborators, friends and artists I have been a fan of for a long time to create new versions of the music, including several artists who helped shape the original record. Akusmi, who played many of the guitars and is part of the live band, and Rashad Becker, who mixed the album, both created new versions. Adam Freeland – whom I met in the desert while working on the album, and later worked in his studio in Joshua Tree—also contributed a remix. The live premiere at the Barbican ended in a rave, and some of the remixes, like the ones by Camea, Adam and Hiro reflect that energy. I’m also thrilled to have inspirations such as Tangerine Dream and C. Diab to have contributed with their versions.”

What’s the music like?

Compelling. The range of musical styles on this collection is wide, showing the versatility of Brandt’s originals, and the scope with which he works when writing an album.

C. Diab begins with a full-bodied cello statement in a rework of Persistence, which breaks out into a kind of motoric drone / krautrock interface. Perhaps not surprisingly, the space around the music is pretty vast on the Tangerine Dream rework of Nothing To Undo. PNK goes through the wringer with Akusmi’s pinpricks of minimalist melody, a thrilling and energetic approach, while Rashad Becker is more maximalist in an eventful take on Without Us. Activity is also the name of the game in Bi Disc’s excellent, up-tempo remix of Steady, and then it’s great to see the name Adam Freeland pop up again on a driven yet ethereal take on Paradise O.D. The same track gets some oblique, funky turns from Hiro Ama, after we’ve heard from Camea (a super-deep account techno account of Resistance) and Brandt himself, with the clattering beats and piercing tones of Lucid.

Does it all work?

It does. The vision of Brandt’s original is retained, but the responses here cover a wide emotional response, and a satisfying cross-section of electronically driven genres.

Is it recommended?

It is indeed. Without Us is worth listening to as a double album – Brandt’s powerful original and this set of enjoyable and boundary-pushing remixes. Excellent stuff once again.

Listen / Buy

Published post no.2,740 – Tuesday 9 December 2025

New music – Isobel Waller-Bridge – Objects (Mercury KX)

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by Ben Hogwood, from the press release

Objects is the new solo album from Isobel Waller-Bridge, out today on Mercury KX. An act of radical stillness, written over four years in the rare quiet moments her career allowed, the album draws from the philosophies of Pauline Oliveros and the experimental radicalism of Stockhausen. Mining sounds from her surroundings and filtering them through minimalism and musique concrète, Waller-Bridge finds music within everyday materials — a ball, a shoe, a cushion, a pane of glass — each becoming a conduit for tenderness and attention. Calling upon trusted collaborator Jonny Woodley, in addition to renowned mastering engineer Heba Kadry (Björk, Ryuichi Sakamoto, John Cale) and mixing engineer James Ginzberg (Lyra Pramuk, Laurel Halo, Anja Lauvdal), Waller-Bridge assembled a team of fellow Deep Listening enthusiasts to bring ‘Objects’ to life.

Stillness is a form of presence that transcends motion – and stillness was something Waller-Bridge did not have. Leading the vanguard of a new wave of composers writing beyond the margins, her scores have become highly sought after because they extend beyond atmosphere and into the realm of psychological portraiture. The unspoken tensions and desires beneath the skin of her subjects colour her worlds: the neurotic gravity behind Munich: The Edge of War, the electronic curdle of Sweetpea, the swooning pastiche of Emma, the hellbent screech of self-destruction on Fleabag, and the BAFTA-winning and Oscar-nominated The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse.

Now, with ‘Objects’, Waller-Bridge has turned that gaze inward. Where her 2022 album ‘VIII’ articulated a tormented mind’s undoing, ‘Objects’ is an act of radical stillness. It confers beauty on things the pace of our lives has taught us to ignore, inviting us to listen not as an objective experience, but as a personal and mysterious response to the world.

“These pieces are simple, strange, and lovingly handmade – oddities that feel to me like small miracles,” Waller-Bridge shares. “They reflect how I move through the world: with curiosity, with slowness, and with an openness to the unexpected music in everything. This album isn’t about performance, it’s about presence.”

An acclaimed collaborator in her own right, Waller-Bridge’s recent commissions include 2024’s original work for the American Ballet Theatre for their new production of ‘Crime and Punishment’ alongside ‘Temperatures’ for the Philharmonia Orchestra, which premiered at the Royal Festival Hall in November 2021. She has also collaborated with fashion houses Alexander McQueen and Simone Rocha, scored installations at Frieze London and Venice Biennale, and partnered with Francesca Hayward, principal ballerina at the Royal Opera House, for her dance film ‘Siren.’

Waller-Bridge reflects, “Whether it’s a film, a ballet, or a record, each project feels like a new language of self-expression, this album taught me that exploration is endless — and for me, there’s a deep peace in that thought.”

Objects is out via Mercury KX. CD and vinyl releases are set to release January 23, 2026. You can listen below:

Published post no.2,739 – Friday 5 December 2025

New music – Grand Central Vs The Works – The Hip Hop Sessions, Vol. 1 (Grand Central)

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by Ben Hogwood

Grand Central Vs The Works will bring back fond 1990s memories for many, but also serves as a futureproof set of releases. It is a collaboration between The Works and what Grand Central head Mark Rae calls “a vault full of Grand Central DATs. Featuring The Jungle Brothers, The Pharcyde, Tony D and Rae & Christian. We are excited to share what has been an amazing journey in fusing the past with the future. Make sure to add to your playlists!

You can listen below:

Published post no.2,739 – Friday 5 December 2025

Switched On – Daniel Avery – Tremor (Domino)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

To quote the press release, Daniel Avery returns with his most ambitious work to date.

“Channelling every corner of his sound, Tremor is a bold and transportive body of work through euphoric shoegaze, submerged techno, ambient soundscape and industrial bliss. It remains unmistakably Avery, yet dramatically evolved.

As with his previous long player, Avery brings an inspiring cast of collaborators, headed by Alison Mosshart (The Kills) but also featuring Walter Schreifels (Quicksand / Rival Schools), bdrmm, Julie Dawson (NewDad), yeule, Ellie, Art School Girlfriend, yunè pinku, and Cecile Believe.

“This is a living and breathing collective,” says Avery. “Since the earliest recordings, Tremor felt like a studio in the sky, a space in time through which we could all pass as artists” he reflects. “It’s the welcoming spirit of acid house with the doors flung open wider still to allow in every influence from my musical journey: the warmth of distortion, the stillness inside intensity, the transcendental beauty of noise… They have always been there in my music but now it feels like those ideas are being transmitted in Technicolor. This is a record for the post-rave comedown kids, the guitar heads and anyone else who wants to come along for the ride. Everyone is welcome.”

What’s the music like?

Expansive – and also progressive. Avery is honing his approach, happy to mix a song-based structure with spacious instrumentals, all with an eye on the headphone listener.

Shoegaze influences abound, while there are also echoes of Trentemøller and Nine Inch Nails, but the overall has Avery’s unmistakable stamp of quality, the otherworldly elements that give his music such a striking profile.

There is a huge space for Cecile Believe’s cool vocal on Rapture In Blue, then big guitars, NIN style, for Haze. A Silent Shadow is similarly massive, with a lovely haze to the  bdrmm vocals and an impressive punch to the grungy guitars. Greasy off the Racing Line has power but feels more derivative, while Tremor itself is superb, reminiscent of Hybrid in their cinematic heyday. A Memory Wrapped In Paper And Smoke is a spacious treat after that, followed by the lovely, calming chant of Art School Girlfriend on closing track I Feel You.

Does it all work?

Largely – occasionally, the feeling of mid-90s nostalgia is impossible to ignore, but this feels largely a forward facing album.

Is it recommended?

It is. Daniel Avery creates unusual colours and soundscapes of the deepest hues, and their cinematic production proves the ideal foil for his vocal guests. Power, poise and ambience coexist to great effect here!

Listen / Buy

Published post no.2,735 – Thursday 4 December 2025