Johann Johannsson

“I always relish the idea of collaborating with the director on creating the sound world, the sound spectrum, and the sound environment of the film. I use every means at my disposal to create a score that is as strong and powerful to enhance the director's vision for the film.”

“The more effort you put into something, the more you get out of it.”

“The drone is a very fundamental part of my music, although it's not always present.”

“I tend to get hired because the filmmakers like what I do, so there's usually not that much conflict about the direction.”

“I'm a huge fan of Philip K. Dick.”

“In this post-industrial society, when we're moving away from what was the norm, we have to deal with what it has left in its wake in terms of the impact on people and the environment.”

“Melancholy is a state that I very much enjoy being in, actually. It's not the same as feeling sad. It's a more complex emotion; it derives from a tragic view of the world, a tragic view of art.”

“There's something quite shocking in this idea that everything is disposable and that people don't care for things anymore.”

“Making 'Orphee' has been a true labour of love, one that has been a part of my life for six years, and yet the music always remained fresh - it was constantly in a state of flux and renewal.”

“I like to have space between the notes. I like to use silence.”

“I think that the essence of being an artist is to break rules. You have to learn rules, and you have to break them, because if you make art only by the rules, then you make very boring art.”

“I'm interested in extremes, in many ways.”

“Sometimes you write music to a script or while a film is being edited. Sometimes I write without seeing any images, but that's rare. The approach is often based on practical decisions, but I'm interested in the narrative and physical space that music can occupy in a film or play.”

“For me, 'Blade Runner' is one of the big influences in my life - I saw it when I was 13 or 14, when it first came out, and since, I've seen it many, many times.”

“To be honest, I don't particularly see myself as an Icelandic artist. I'm a European artist.”

“'End of Summer' expands the way I want to express myself as a composer. It's a piece of visual music that has this narrative and conceptual dimension to it.”

“For me, what people generally call sound design is just one component of orchestrating a score.”