The Netflix Viking series, The Last Kingdom has announced new music attached to the upcoming film. The film’s release in April 2023 will include music from the new album, The Last Kingdom: Destiny Is All. Currently, the series has shared a new song and music video for one of the singles on the album.
The film will follow suit after the Netflix series’ five-season finale in October 2022. Now, the film’s album – which was co-created by singer-songwriter, Eivør and the composers, John Lunn and Danny Saul – is set to release on April 22ndfollowing April 14th, the film’s debut.
The song, “The Last Kingdom: The Beloveds” opens with the overpowering rhythm of drums and chanted vocals. The entirety of the vocals on this track and the full album, are from the voice of Eivør. The synth beats make for a high charged song created to match the film’s emotional storylines of a battle. The song was actually one that was featured.
In the music video, the track based on the tv series’ final season shows scenes between Vikings unfold. The video features two female Vikings, a mother and daughter who are leading a ritual sacrifice. The event is sanctioned to please The Gods and prepare for battle. The creators of the song, Eivør and Saul make cameos in the video. The two make appearances as members of the tribe – joining in the group chants & Nordic drumming.
mxdwn Music had the honor of asking the composer Lunn and vocalist Eivør a few questions about the music and how it all came together.
Questions for Lunn:
Nordic mythology seems to be having a moment in entertainment but also its music – what about this history and its music, particularly throat singing and its rich history that is coming back in trend, do you find connects with viewers?
“To be honest I had never previously associated throat singing with Nordic music, I had always imagined it a much more eastern tradition so it was a complete surprise when I first heard Eivor. I wasn’t expecting the level of aggression that she could convey with such a technique and consequently, it very quickly became the dominant signature motif that we used right throughout the entire 5 seasons,” said Lunn.
Eivør is essentially the music behind the show and really gives the show one last final hurrah in a way. With the current shift in the TV landscape, how does bringing in Eivør complete the way the show sounds but also the way the show concludes?
“Using voice in Film music can be problematic, particularly over dialogue, it tends to interfere but Eivør’s ability to use her voice more like an instrument was, for me, the reason I was able to craft the score in the way we have done. She’s almost like a one woman orchestra in her own right and the final section of the movie reveals the many demands on her versatility, one minute in full battle cry, a coronation, charting an ascent to Valhalla finishing with a beautiful version of our most famous song as the end titles,” said Lunn.
Questions for Eivør:
What drew you to want to be a part of the process of making the soundtrack with John Lunn and how did the use of electronic music bring it all together?
“I got contacted by John a few years back when he had just started working on the music score for the series. He had heard some of my music online and wanted me to try out some vocal ideas on the music he had been working on. So I flew to London and we had a quite playful studio session together in his studio where we experimented with various vocal ideas and moods. At this point I thought I was only doing some vocals for one specific scene in the series but this creative meeting between the two of us led to us working together on the entire score for the series, and we have been working very closely together ever since,” said Eivør. “I think that the combination of the electronic elements and something very ancient and primal sounding has been one of the key things that made our creative worlds connect so much.”
Throat singing is quite distinctive. How did you and John know that this was the perfect sound/music to really tie the show together in a nice bow?
“Throat singing has been something that I have been working with a lot in my own music and in my performances during the years and I think this was the first thing that John heard me doing via a youtube video.. So when I experimented with it throughout our first studio session we immediately felt that it contributed something interesting to the music and to the picture, especially the battle scenes. It added that wild and primal female energy that we were searching for in the score,” said Eivør.
Check out the wonder works of Lunn, Eivør and Saul in “The Beloveds” below right now.
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