Composer Spotlight: Electric Youth
To celebrate the release of their latest soundtrack North of Normal, Toronto/LA duo Electric Youth (Come True, Breathing, Drive, The Neon Demon) return to revisit their 2021 Composer Spotlight playlist with a new selection of hand-picked gems and deep cuts. Spanning from John Barry’s sweeping Midnight Cowboy theme to the serene, introspective tones of Keith Mansfield’s “Summer’s Coming” from EMI’s KPM 1000 library series, the playlist reflects Electric Youth’s deep-rooted love for film music—offering listeners a window into the duo’s eclectic and cinematic sonic world.
“These are pieces that relate to our work as much as they are pieces that forever share the fabric of who we are as composers. They embody the common thread of emotionality at the heart of what we do.” – Electric Youth
While their breakout track “A Real Hero” from Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive first brought Electric Youth into the spotlight fifteen years ago, the North of Normal soundtrack reveals a new depth to their sound—featuring some of their most emotionally resonant and cinematic work yet. The 16-track album features lush string orchestration, dreamy synths and three new songs (“Love in Slow Motion“, “How Long” and “North of Normal“) born from the heart of the film’s reflective, memory-driven coming-of-age narrative. The soundtrack also features Electric Youth’s synth pop earworm “Innocence” from their 2014 album Innerworld, which serves as North of Normal‘s end credits song.
The project was deeply personal to Electric Youth’s Bronwyn Griffin and Austin Garrick, with the duo noting, “We choose the films we work on based on the emotional opportunities they will provide for the score, and on North of Normal, director Carly Stone, along with the film’s producer Kyle Mann, gave us opportunities unlike any we’ve had to date.” Of resonating with the film’s many themes, they add, “It’s a film full of personal connections for us – the center point of the film being the loss of the main character’s grandfather coincided with the loss of Austin’s grandfather in real life, who was a mentor to us both and wrote the poem our song ‘A Real Hero’ was based on. It resulted in music coming from a place of true emotion.”
North of Normal is available to stream on Paramount+ in the US and on Netflix in Canada. Listen to the official soundtrack, out now.