The Music of Beasts of the Southern Wild - Rolling Stone Magazine

"[Benh and Dan] have always worked together in that capacity, but Benh's made film his life, whereas Dan is a music producer by trade," says Gottwald. "But I think that Benh, having musical experience, when they come together they create something that is the product of both of them." The director "has a very good ear for storytelling in film, like the musical storytelling aspect," says Romer. "For a good two weeks, we were sitting together working 20 hours a day on this score, and it was like nine a.m. to five a.m. every day working. Just the level of artistry that he was outputting just made me want to work that much."

Explains Zeitlin, "We've just known each other for so long. I sort of understand his tendencies and he understands mine. Like everything else in the film, it turns out that what we needed was actually our family."

Read more at Rollingstone.com

'Beasts Of The Southern Wild' Soundtrack Hits iTunes Today - IndieWire

A heartrending, magical and extraordinary debut film about a six-year-old girl who leaves her ailing father and Delta-community home in search of her mother (though that feels like just the tip of the iceberg), equally exceptional and particularly striking is the film's wonderful score. Written by producer/mixer and composer Dan Romer and Zeitlin himself (they also both scored Zeitlin's acclaimed short "Glory At Sea"), in a recent interview with the director that The Playlist has yet to publish, the filmmaker told us the concept for the score was that it was the music that lead character Hushpuppy (played by Quvenzhané Wallis in an amazing breakthrough turn) hears inside her head.   Stirring, mournful, bewitching and anthemic, it's not completely off-base to say the score is Arcade Fire-esque in its energetic and rousing celebratory nature. And yes, on a close listen, it's all based on the same one-theme, but that's part of its emotional brilliance. However you want to describe it, we recommend you check it and the movie out as soon as possible.

Read the complete article on IndieWire.

Inside the Beasts Score

Dan Romer (L) and Benh Zeitlin (R), co-composers of the Beasts of the Southern Wild score. Film and music have always been intertwined for Zeitlin, who spent his teenage years as the singer for a grunge band. "All through high school, every Friday we'd go to my friend Bob's house and make a movie, and on Saturday, we'd have band practice," he said, adding with a laugh, "Music and movies is the way we'd entertain ourselves, for lack of having girlfriends or drug problems."

Benh Zeitlin spoke to Vulture about making music for film.  Read it on Vulture.

Images via BMI and KVIFF.