UPDATE: AFFAIRS OF THE ART

After the incredible worldwide success of “Affairs of the Art” at festivals, the hard work put in by Joanna and Les and everyone else associated with Beryl Productions has culminated in a nomination for an OSCAR for Best Animated Short Film! I am deeply humbled to have written the music for this brilliant film, and I wish Joanna, Les and everyone the best of luck. Here’s hoping!

THE LIGHT IN THE HALL
LIMITED SERIES

PRODUCED BY TRIONGL/DUCHESS STREET PRODUCTIONS
BROADCAST ON CHANNEL 4/S4C/WORLDWIDE

The team at John Hardy Music are thrilled to be writing the music for “The Light in the Hall”, a new limited series exploring the themes of loss and renewal through the lens of an investigative journalist. We can’t say much more just yet, but the show boasts a talented cast and crew, and it’s shaping up to be an absolute page-turner!

STAD
SERIES 1

PRODUCED BY TRIONGL/CWMNIDA
BROADCAST ON S4C

This limited series used to be a long running soap, but the time was right to revisit the characters, fifteen years on. STAD is a quirky production, following the lives of interwoven families as they navigate everyday and not-so-everyday drama.

Together with Tic Ashfield, I was very pleased to have had the opportunity to write a lot of bass music for the series, for which the producers wanted quite a grungy tone, which made for an interesting and challenging deviation from recent projects. Fingers crossed for series 2!

HIDDEN / CRAITH
SERIES 3

PRODUCED BY SEVERN SCREEN
BROADCAST ON BBC/S4C/WORLDWIDE

I and the team at John Hardy Music were so pleased to have been invited back to compose the music for the last instalment of Hidden. It’s been quite the ride, three series with three very different flavours, demanding three quite different scores.

This last series has been a bittersweet experience. I am going to miss writing for the story and lives of the characters, but the chance to take the lead on series 3 was brilliant.

Hidden, we’ll miss you!

BREGUS

PRODUCED BY FICTION FACTORY
DIRECTED BY ED THOMAS
BROADCAST INTERNATIONALLY

John Hardy Music was approached just before the first UK lockdown about composing for this standout psychological thriller, starring Hannah Daniel in the lead role. We were excited about the minimal approach they wanted to take with the music, forming an atmospheric backbone and presence as opposed to reacting to every moment. Bregus is an emotional and tense watch, and we are so grateful for the chance to write for such a compelling and sensitive story.

WELCOME STRANGERS
SERIES 2

PRODUCED BY SARAH BREESE
BROADCAST ON RADIO WALES

I was honoured to be asked to return to write for the second series of the irreverent comedy show. Welcome Strangers showcases some of the best comedy writing and performing talent that Wales has to offer, with Ruth Madoc as the narrator. I can’t wait to hear the series go out live, comedy has been one of the saviours of isolation, and always provides a means of connecting to ideas and people in new ways. My fingers are crossed for a further return to this strange and hilarious world!

OLIVIA GOES TO SPACE

PRODUCED BY STEPHEN NELSON

Sometime after the first lockdown began in the UK in 2020, I was surprised to be contacted to work on a short film, as production had stopped on almost all projects apart from those that could afford to keep up with the changing regulations. I was really happy to have the opportunity to write for large orchestra in this aspirational, space themed dream belonging to a young girl. The message is lovely, and the film is short but delightful.

AFFAIRS OF THE ART

CREATED BY JOANNA QUINN
Produced by Beryl Productions
SHOWN AT FILM FESTIVALS

Creating music for this project was such a joy! Joanna had decided to use jagged string quartet to underscore her incredible short animated film about so much more than a woman trying to unlock her artistic expression. Writing and performing all of the string parts myself was a challenge but a welcome one, and I was given encouraged by Joanna’s confidence that although the music itself was angular and perhaps even difficult to listen to, coupled with the animation it helped to tell a beautiful and humorous story. This project was completed on behalf of John Hardy Music.

Welcome Strangers

PRODUCED BY SARAH BREESE
BROADCAST ON RADIO WALES

I’m very pleased to have been asked to collaborate once more with Sarah Breese on another of her comedy projects, ‘Welcome Strangers’. This is a comedy sketch show for radio, drawing influence from all things mysterious, from Wales and internationally, a thoughtful and humorous reflection on life and human interaction. I’m overjoyed to have been involved with such a quintessentially Welsh program.

Hel Y Mynydd

PRODUCED By SIAN RODERICK
BROADCAST ON S4C

John Hardy Music was approached to do the original score last minute for this beautifully shot documentary piece about a small farming community who share use of the land around the Elan Valley. It’s a lovely, slow paced insight into the harsh and warming life, and we felt honoured to be writing the accompanying music to this stark and gorgeous landscape.

Mark Gatiss In Search Of Dracula

PRODUCED BY NATHAN LANDEG
BROADCAST ON BBC2

We’re really excited to announce at John Hardy Music that we have written the original score for a one hour special that is to accompany the new Dracula series produced by Mark Gatiss and Russel T Davies. It’s been a pleasure to be involved in such an exciting and off the wall project, and we’re really happy with the outcome. I’d absolutely recommend watching Mark present his history of the Dracula phenomenon.

APOSTLE

DIRECTED BY GARETH Evans
PRODUCED BY XYZ Films/SEVERN SCREEN
NETFLIX

John Hardy Music were humbled to have been asked to create the trailer music for this grizzly horror film. It was a brief but great encounter with director Gareth Evans, gathering a small male voice choir to record a version of “Down to the River to Pray” (perhaps most known version by Alison Krauss). We look forward to working with Gareth on a future project.

The Last (short film)

DIRECTED BY DAVID NEWTON
SHOWN AT FILM FESTIVALS

I’m pleased to announce my continued involvement with David Newton who I have previously worked with on Hand Of God (2016) and The Take Down (2018), on his latest short film The Last. It’s a really interesting piece that focusses on the aftermath of a shootout. David was keen not to have the score speak too strongly in the thriller vein, so we opted for a more emotive orchestration instead. The whole short was uses only three shots to tell the whole story, and as such has a great sense of intimacy and intense engagement with the protagonist.

Listen to the score on my soundcloud page.

Baich (short film)

DIRECTED BY MARED SWAIN
SHOWN AT FILM FESTIVALS

I had the chance to create a unique sounding score for a short surrealist film, written and directed by Mared Swain and produced by Hannah Thomas at Severn Screen. The piece itself is about a mother struggling to cope with raising her two daughters. A short sequence at home leads to her running out of the front door, but she finds herself transported to a forest where, although she finds brief rest, quickly turns disconcerting and frightening.

The score is largely constructed from harmonic strings and affected voices, with some synthesised underbelly and sound design. I hope I managed to match the drama for its eeriness!

Listen to the score on my soundcloud page.

Hidden / Craith
Series 2

PRODUCED BY SEVERN SCREEN
BROADCAST ON BBC/S4C/WORLDWIDE

We at John Hardy Music are pleased to announce our continued involvement with this fabulously dark crime drama series, and the second series doesn’t pull any punches. The scripts and performances are fantastic, and we’re really excited to be presented with the opportunity to build last season’s music and to take it in some new and horrific directions! Sam and Tic have already done some great work in reworking material and writing new material to fit the new series, so I’m eager to get stuck in.

UPDATE: Steel Country / A Dark Place

We at John Hardy Music were really excited to have learn that ‘Steel Country’, a film we wrote the score for over winter 2016/17 now has distribution in US and UK cinema! It was released as ‘A Dark Place’ in the states and as its original title ‘Steel Country’ in the UK, in spring 2019. Needless to say we’re over the moon that this project has been given the exposure it desrves. Huge congratulations to the production team, notably director Simon Fellows and producer Gareth Ellis-Unwin for creating and supporting this project over the past years.

UPDATE: Amber / The Take Down

Some fab news about the thriller I wrote a score for in summer 2017, ‘Amber’, renamed ‘The Take Down’, has US distribution and is available to stream on Amazon Prime in the US as well as the UK. I’m super stoked that this project has been pushed so far, and is testament to the dedication of director David Newton and producer Eloise Carrow. The film has gone from award to award at many independent film festivals, and I look forward to working with David and Eloise again soon.

Pili Pala

PRODUCED BY TRIONGL CYMRU
BROADCAST ON S4C/WORLDWIDE

Tic and I were approached to create music for a four part drama which will be airing on S4C around summer 2019. It’s a fabulous and engrossing story. We’ve just begun to put music to picture for the first episode and all seems to be going smoothly, and we’re looking forward to writing for some big moments.

Listen to some tracks from this project on my soundcloud page.

Hidden / Craith
SeRIES 1

PRODUCED BY SEVERN SCREEN
BROADCAST ON BBC/S4C/WORLDWIDE

We at John Hardy Music had the great honour of writing for another fantastic welsh-made crime thriller. Tense and particularly disturbing, it offered us an uncommon chance to write abstract and odd music that, combined with the imagery and strong performances from the actors, created an eerie and uncomfortable drama.

As usual it was a real team effort. I was comleting my score for ‘Amber’ when this project was kicking off, so Sam and Tic set the musical tone for much of the series. I joined in towards the end of the second episode, and Sam and I wrote some bizarre pieces with the hammond organ as the sonic backbone for a change of direction in episode four whilst Tic was away on another project. And of course, John’s watchful ear was never far away!

Amber / THE TAKE DOWN

DIRECTED BY DAVID NEWTON
PRODUCED BY ELOISE CARROW
US CINEMA / AMAZON PRIME

I had the recent pleasure of working again with David Newton on his first feature production, which also happened to be my first full length solo score.  A non-stop fighting thriller of a man trying to save his daughter and perhaps also himself from certain death.

Created over a challengingly short period, I had little time to come up with a sound world that would compliment the style and action.  At times like this it's best to turn to your strengths, though I found that with encouragement from David and Eloise Carrow (producer), I was able to turn my hand to techniques I had not used before but which made it into the final score.  Similar sounds to that of Hans Zimmer's score for 'Dunkirk' can be heard, which blend very well with my usual mix of live instrumentation and detailed programmed virtual instruments.

It was premiered at Raindance Film Festival 2017 in London who also supported the production of the film.

Steel Country / A DARK PLACE

DIRECTED BY SIMON FELLOWS
PRODUCED BY GARETH UNWIN-ELLIS
US / UK CINEMA

Through late 2016 and early 2017 I had the pleasure of being a leading force in the creation of the music for John Hardy Music's score for 'Steel Country', directed by Simon Fellows and produced by Gareth Unwin-Ellis.

Writing music to accompany such fine performances from Andrew Scott and Bronagh Waugh was a unique creative experience and a real joy.  We utilised some fantastic instrumental techniques together with some powerful synthetic materials to compose an, in our view, individual and characterful score whose quality and integrity matches that of the actors' performances and beautiful camerawork.

Hinterland / Y Gwyll
Series 3

PRODUCED BY FICTION FACTORY
BROADCAST ON BBC/S4C/WORLDWIDE

The concluding series to the internationally recognised crime-noir Hinterland returns for its final instalment!  Working on the program has been a joy and I, along with the rest of the team, will miss it dearly.  Musically it's been a huge change again as Sam Barnes joined us and brought his own personality along, and we were all thrilled by the direction it took, keeping the flavour of the landscape but evolving with the story and characters in a fresh and beautiful way.

RIP Hinterland!