Mudbound (soundtrack)
| Mudbound (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) | ||||
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| Film score by Tamar-kali and various artists | ||||
| Released | November 17, 2017 | |||
| Recorded | 2017 | |||
| Studios | The Diamond Mine, New York City | |||
| Genre | Film score | |||
| Length | 50:58 | |||
| Label | Milan | |||
| Producer | Tamar-kali | |||
| Tamar-kali chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Mudbound (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) | ||||
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Mudbound (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the film score composed by Tamar-kali to the 2017 film Mudbound directed by Dee Rees. The album featured Tamar-kali's score along with three original songs performed by the Ek-Stompers and "Mighty River" by Mary J. Blige, which received a nomination for Academy Award for Best Original Song. The album was released on November 17, 2017, through Milan Records.
Background
[edit]Singer-songwriter Tamar-kali was chosen to score music for Mudbound, having previously worked with Dee Rees on providing songs for Pariah (2011) and Bessie (2015).[1] Dee Rees was instrumental in bringing Tamar-kali to score for Mudbound, after liking her work in Pariah, and previously wanted her to score music for Bessie, but executives at HBO wanted a seasoned composer which led to the involvement of Rachel Portman. In an interview,[2][3] Tamar-kali said that the score was representative of the environment that the film was set in – the mud, the oppression – and had planned out the soundscapes after watching the only cue.[2][3]
Tamar-kali was not only involved in composition, but also in production, orchestration, conducting, recording and mixing as well.[4] She had worked on 40 minutes of the score for four weeks.[4][5] In an interview,[6][7] Tamar-kali said that the climax of the film, featured only rough cue, while most of the pieces which she wrote were improvisational, especially on one scene where they took Ronsel to the barn which Tamar-kali was afraid of it, as it was intense and sensitive. Tamar-kali had to watch that sensitive scenes over and over so that she has an emotional reaction to these sequences and then create a gut-wrenching piece for the sequences.[6][7]
Reception
[edit]David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter wrote "the expressive and distinctively varied score of Brooklyn-based multicultural composer Tamar-kali" aided the film.[8] Peter Debruge of Variety wrote "Tamar-kali’s Dolby-mixed score swells all around".[9] Chris Bumbray of JoBlo.com called Tamar-kali's score as "remarkable".[10] David Ehrlich of IndieWire listed the score as one of the 40 best film scores of the 21st century. Ehrlich said "Moments of levity jump out of the higher registers like flickers escaping a fire, but the music always returns to that low rumble, those strings absorbing all manner of hardship and violence. That consistency only makes Tamar-kali’s final tracks more powerful, as the torture of 'Missing Letter' gives way to the divine transcendence of '…But for Love.'"[11]
Track listing
[edit]| No. | Title | Artist(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Mighty River" | Mary J. Blige | 5:14 |
| 2. | "Intro / Mudbound Theme" | 3:34 | |
| 3. | "Laura Mud Drone" | 0:43 | |
| 4. | "Ronsel Leaves" | 1:15 | |
| 5. | "Hap Mud Drone" | 0:35 | |
| 6. | "Land" | 1:02 | |
| 7. | "Country Violence" | 1:04 | |
| 8. | "Whooping Cough Pt. 1" | 0:27 | |
| 9. | "Whooping Cough Pt. 2" | 1:45 | |
| 10. | "Hap Recuperates" | 1:47 | |
| 11. | "Ties That Bind" | 0:31 | |
| 12. | "Lovers / VE Day" | 1:30 | |
| 13. | "Back on the Farm" | 1:47 | |
| 14. | "A Man Oughta Know" | 1:22 | |
| 15. | "Same Old Jim Crow Pt. 1" | 0:43 | |
| 16. | "Same Old Jim Crow Pt. 2" | 0:23 | |
| 17. | "Sorry, Not Sorry" | 0:45 | |
| 18. | "Ties That Bind Pt. 2" | 0:40 | |
| 19. | "Unravelings" | 3:29 | |
| 20. | "Awakenings" | 0:32 | |
| 21. | "The Ties That Bind Pt. 3" | 0:53 | |
| 22. | "Father & Son Undone Pt. 1" | 1:11 | |
| 23. | "Missing Letter" | 3:48 | |
| 24. | "Father & Son Undone Pt. 2" | 1:46 | |
| 25. | "Ronsel in A Minor" | 1:28 | |
| 26. | "...But for Love" | 3:06 | |
| 27. | "Glory Glory" | Odetta | 2:12 |
| 28. | "Harlem Shout" | The Ek-Stompers | 3:08 |
| 29. | "(My Darling) It's You, Only You" | The Ek-Stompers | 1:35 |
| 30. | "Moonray" | The Ek-Stompers | 2:43 |
| Total length: | 50:58 | ||
Accolades
[edit]| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Awards | March 4, 2018 | Best Original Song | "Mighty River" – Mary J. Blige, Raphael Saadiq and Taura Stinson | Nominated | [12] [13] [14] |
| Black Reel Awards | February 22, 2018 | Outstanding Original Song | "Mighty River" – Mary J. Blige, Raphael Saadiq and Taura Stinson | Won | [15] [16] |
| Georgia Film Critics Association | January 12, 2018 | Best Original Song | "Mighty River" – Raphael Saadiq, Mary J. Blige and Taura Stinson | Nominated | [17] |
| Golden Globe Awards | January 7, 2018 | Best Original Song | "Mighty River" – Raphael Saadiq, Mary J. Blige and Taura Stinson | Nominated | [18] [19] |
| Guild of Music Supervisors Awards | February 8, 2018 | Best Song Written and/or Recording Created for a Film | "Mighty River" | Nominated | [20] [21] |
| Hollywood Music in Media Awards | November 16, 2017 | Original Score – Feature Film | Tamar-kali | Nominated | [22] [23] |
| Original Song – Feature Film | "Mighty River" – Raphael Saadiq, Mary J. Blige and Taura Stinson | Nominated | |||
| World Soundtrack Awards | October 17, 2018 | Discovery of the Year | Tamar-kali | Won | [24] [25] |
References
[edit]- ↑ "Composer Tamar-kali dug deep for her work on 'Mudbound'". LAist. March 6, 2018. Archived from the original on July 22, 2025. Retrieved June 22, 2026.
- 1 2 "Tamar-kali". Pop Disciple. May 11, 2018. Archived from the original on September 17, 2019. Retrieved June 22, 2026.
- 1 2 Abrams, Bryan (April 16, 2018). "Mudbound & Come Sunday Composer Tamar-kali's Singular Path". Motion Picture Association. Archived from the original on November 22, 2019. Retrieved June 23, 2026.
- 1 2 Parr, Freya (May 7, 2018). "An Interview with Mudbound composer Tamar-kali". Classical Music. Archived from the original on July 28, 2021. Retrieved June 22, 2026.
- ↑ Grieving, Tim (November 17, 2017). "Music In 'Mudbound' Intended To Evoke Earth, Dirt And Mud". NPR. Archived from the original on December 7, 2017. Retrieved June 22, 2026.
- 1 2 Cassidy, Kevin (November 17, 2017). "Composer Roundtable: The Need for Diversity and the Agony of Waiting for Inspiration to Strike". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on September 19, 2025. Retrieved June 22, 2026.
- 1 2 Parisi, Paula (November 22, 2017). "Composer Tamar-kali's Alchemy Of Dirt And Music For 'Mudbound'". Billboard. Archived from the original on October 2, 2022. Retrieved June 22, 2026.
- ↑ Rooney, David (January 21, 2017). "'Mudbound': Film Review | Sundance 2017". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on November 21, 2025. Retrieved June 22, 2026.
- ↑ Debruge, Peter (January 22, 2017). "Film Review: 'Mudbound'". Variety. Archived from the original on February 19, 2017. Retrieved June 23, 2026.
- ↑ Bumbray, Chris (November 16, 2017). "Review: Mudbound". JoBlo.com. Archived from the original on November 12, 2025. Retrieved June 23, 2026.
- ↑ Chapman, Wilson; Ehrlich, David; Erbland, Kate; Zilko, Christian (August 10, 2023). "The 40 Best Movie Scores of the 21st Century". IndieWire. Archived from the original on August 22, 2025. Retrieved June 22, 2026.
- ↑ "Oscar Nominations 2018: The Complete List". Variety. January 23, 2018. Archived from the original on March 31, 2018. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
- ↑ Barnes, Brooks (January 23, 2018). "2018 Oscar Nominations: 'The Shape of Water' Leads With 13 Nominations". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 2, 2018. Retrieved January 23, 2018.
- ↑ "The 90th Academy Awards (2018) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). Archived from the original on March 4, 2018. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ↑ "Get Out Dominates the Black Reel Awards". Black Reel Awards. December 13, 2017. Archived from the original on December 19, 2017. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
- ↑ "Get Out "Sinks" the Competition at The Black Reel Awards". Black Reel Awards. February 23, 2018. Archived from the original on February 28, 2018. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
- ↑ "2017 Awards". Georgia Film Critics Association. January 8, 2018. Archived from the original on January 9, 2018. Retrieved January 8, 2018.
- ↑ "Golden Globes Winners: Complete List". Variety. January 7, 2018. Archived from the original on January 8, 2018. Retrieved January 8, 2018.
- ↑ "Golden Globes: Full list of nominees". BBC News. December 11, 2017. Archived from the original on December 11, 2017. Retrieved December 11, 2017.
- ↑ "Sufjan Stevens, 'Greatest Showman,' 'Girls' Among Guild of Music Supervisors Awards Nominees". Variety. January 11, 2018. Archived from the original on May 16, 2018. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
- ↑ Walters, Michael (February 9, 2018). "Guild of Music Supervisors Awards: The Complete Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on June 15, 2018. Retrieved January 3, 2022.
- ↑ "Hollywood Music in Media Awards: Full Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter. November 17, 2017. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 18, 2017.
- ↑ Pond, Steve (October 26, 2017). "Hollywood Music in Media Awards Announces Nominees in Film, TV, & Video Game Music". Shoot Online. Archived from the original on October 26, 2017. Retrieved October 26, 2017.
- ↑ Carras, Christi (August 13, 2018). "'Shape of Water,' 'Star Wars,' Kendrick Lamar Nab World Soundtrack Awards Noms". Variety. Archived from the original on August 13, 2018. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
- ↑ Dalton, Ben (October 17, 2018). "Kendrick Lamar, late Jóhann Jóhannsson win at 2018 World Soundtrack Awards". Screen International. Archived from the original on October 18, 2018. Retrieved June 27, 2024.
