Ben Frost (musician)
Ben Frost (born 1980) is an Australian musician, composer, record producer, sound designer and director best known for his pioneering electronic music. Based in Reykjavík, Iceland since 2005 Frost composes minimalist, instrumental and experimental music,[1][2][3] with influences ranging from classical minimalism to punk rock and black metal.[4]
Ben Frost | |
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Frost performing in 2014 | |
Background information | |
Born | 1980 (age 39–40) Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
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His early releases include the guitar oriented albums Steel Wound (2003), School of Emotional Engineering (as part of the band School of Emotional Engineering) (2004), Theory of Machines (2007) marked a radical shift towards more angular aggressive music and was further advanced on the critically acclaimed By The Throat (2009). In 2011 commissioned by Unsound Festival, and as part of a collaboration with Brian Eno and fellow Icelandic composer Daníel Bjarnason) Frost released Solaris, a conceptual album which rescored Andrei Tarkovsky's film of the same name. In 2014 after signing with British record label Mute Records Frost released the critically lauded and distinctly more rhythmical album Aurora. In 2017 Frost travelled to Chicago to record The Centre Cannot Hold with Steve Albini.[1][2] In addition to his studio albums Frost has collaborated with contemporary dance companies Chunky Move,[5] the Icelandic Dance Company[6] and the British choreographer Wayne McGregor.[7] He composed the music for Wayne McGregor's 2010 production FAR.
Alongside his solo work, Frost has collaborated frequently with other musicians including composer Nico Muhly, Valgeir Sigurðsson, Björk, Tim Hecker, Colin Stetson, Daníel Bjarnason, and American rock band Swans, often contributing to albums as a producer, studio engineer and performer.
Frost co-composed Music for Solaris with Daníel Bjarnason, which was inspired by both Stanisław Lem's novel Solaris and the 1972 Tarkovsky film of the same name. It was performed by Frost, Bjarnason and Sinfonietta Cracovia.[3] He composed the music for the films Sleeping Beauty, the Icelandic drama The Deep[6] and the 2015 British television series Fortitude. In 2012 he travelled to the Democratic Republic of Congo with Richard Mosse, along with Trevor Tweeten and John Holten, to score the sound for Mosse's artwork The Enclave.[8]
In 2013, in his first directorial role, he premiered a critically acclaimed music-theatre adaptation of the Iain Banks novel The Wasp Factory.[9][10][11][12]
In 2015, Frost provided the score for Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege
Two years later, in 2017, Frost scored the film Super Dark Times. In that same year, he premiered a new installation, entitled Incoming, with Richard Mosse and Trevor Tweeten at the Barbican Centre in London, which is currently touring worldwide.
Frost participated in the recording of Swans' 2019 album Leaving Meaning [13] and joined their touring band.
From 2017 to 2020, Frost provided the score for all three seasons of Netflix's German sci-fi thriller Dark.
Discography
- Music for Sad Children (2001) – independent
- Steel Wound (2003/re-issue 2007/2012) – Room40
- School of Emotional Engineering (2004) - Architecture
- Theory of Machines (2007) – Bedroom Community
- By the Throat (2009) – Bedroom Community
- The Invisibles (2010) – for Amnesty International
- Sólaris (with Daníel Bjarnason) (2011) – Bedroom Community[14]
- Sleeping Beauty (2011) – independent – soundtrack for Julia Leigh's movie of the same name.
- Black Marrow (2013) – independent
- F a R (2013) – independent[15]
- Aurora (2014)- Mute Records / Bedroom Community
- Variant (2014) - Bedroom Community
- The Wasp Factory (2016) - Bedroom Community
- Threshold Of Faith (2017) - Mute Records
- Music From Fortitude (2017) - Mute Records - soundtrack for Fortitude (TV series)
- The Centre Cannot Hold (2017) - Mute Records
- Super Dark Times (2017) - Super Dark Times Soundtrack - soundtrack for Kevin Phillips's film of the same name
- Dark - Netflix series Dark Season 1 Soundtrack (2019)
- Dark - Netflix series Dark Season 2 Soundtrack (2019)
- Dark - Netflix series Dark Season 3 Soundtrack (2020)
See also
References
- "BBC - Music - Review of Ben Frost - By the Throat". BBC.co.uk. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
- Grayson Currin (8 January 2010). "Ben Frost: By the throat". Pitchfork. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
- Cripps, Charlotte (3 June 2011). "Music for Solaris: the mentoring process". London: The Independent. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
- Buchanan, John D. "Ben Frost biography". Allmusic. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
- "Chunky Move". Southbank Centre. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
- "Jane Campion Presents a film by Julia Leigh: Sleeping Beauty" (PDF). Festival de Cannes. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
- "Inside choreographer Wayne McGregor's brain". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
- Telekom (16 December 2014). "Ben Frost Speaks to Richard Mosse— "Your work will be distilled into a plugin in Photoshop."". Electronic Beats. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
- "The Wasp Factory". Royal Opera House. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
- Church, Michael (3 October 2013). "Opera review: The Wasp Factory". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
- "The Wasp Factory, Linbury Studio Theatre, London – review". Financial Times. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
- "The Wasp Factory – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
- "leaving meaning". Young God Records. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
- John D. Buchanan. "Ben Frost - Discography - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
- "Ben Frost". Bandcamp. Retrieved 30 November 2013.