Jóhann Jóhannsson

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Jóhann Jóhannsson was born in Reykjavík in 1969. He was not a classically trained composer but came from indie rock and experimental electronic music. He forged orchestra, choir and electronic processing into a single field of sound. With director Denis Villeneuve he made Prisoners (2013), Sicario (2015) and Arrival (2016). In Sicario a rumbling, low rhythm sounds like approaching danger. In Arrival he processed voices so that they sound like an alien language. His score for The Theory of Everything (2014), by contrast, is light and warm and won a Golden Globe. He died in Berlin in 2018, aged 48. Hildur Guðnadóttir worked closely with him.

Listening

• 
  Cambridge, 1963 · Jóhann Jóhannsson, 2014
• 
  The Beast · Jóhann Jóhannsson, 2015
• 
  Heptapod B · Jóhann Jóhannsson, 2016

Discography

Studio albums

• 2002Englabörn
• 2004Dís (soundtrack)
• 2004Virðulegu Forsetar
• 2006IBM 1401, A User’s Manual
• 2008Fordlândia
• 2009And in the Endless Pause There Came the Sound of Bees (soundtrack)
• 2011The Miners’ Hymns (soundtrack)
• 2012Copenhagen Dreams: Music from the Film (soundtrack)
• 2012Free the Mind: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (soundtrack)
• 2013Prisoners: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (soundtrack)
• 2014I Am Here
• 2014McCanick: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (soundtrack)
• 2014The Theory of Everything: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (soundtrack)
• 2015End of Summer (soundtrack)
• 2015Sicario: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (soundtrack)
• 2016Arrival: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (soundtrack)
• 2016Orphée
• 2018Englabörn & Variations
• 2018Mandy: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (soundtrack)
• 2018Mary Magdalene: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (soundtrack)
• 2018The Mercy: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (soundtrack)
• 201912 Conversations with Thilo Heinzmann
• 2019Trapped: Original Television Series Soundtrack (soundtrack)
• 2019White Black Boy: Original Soundtrack (soundtrack)
• 2020Last and First Men (soundtrack)
• 2020Personal Effects: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (soundtrack)
• 2022Blind Massage (soundtrack)
• 2022Drone Mass
• 2022The Shadow Play (soundtrack)
• 2023A Prayer to the Dynamo and Suites from "Sicario" & "The Theory of Everything"
• 2026Friendship Survival Guide
• 2026Jóhann Jóhannsson: Piano Works

Other work

• 2013Prisoners
• 2014The Theory of Everything
• 2015Sicario
• 2016Arrival

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

• Film Music Map^NL Map
• The Dream Factory: Film Reel 5^NL Reader

Mentioned in other articles

• Ambient, drone and new modernism GenreThe Icelander Jóhann Jóhannsson built threatening, low drones for Sicario (2015) and used processed voices in Arrival (2016).

See also

• Englabörn
• Virðulegu Forsetar
• IBM 1401, A User’s Manual
• Fordlândia
• Orphée
• Ambient, drone and new modernism