Geoff Barrow (Portishead) and Ben Salisbury produced the soundtrack for Ale… Read Full Bio ↴Geoff Barrow (Portishead) and Ben Salisbury produced the soundtrack for Alex Garland’s debut feature film ‘Ex Machina’ released in 2015. They had previously co-written the album 'Drokk: Music Inspired By Mega City One'.

Geoff Barrow is a founding member of Portishead and producer/label owner of Invada Records UK. Ben Salisbury is a soundtrack composer with over 200 film and TV credits to his name, including David Attenborough’s ‘Life of Mammals’, ‘Life in the Undergrowth’ and ‘Life in Cold Blood’. Barrow and Salisbury met over 10 years ago when they both joined a Bristol football team for old men. After many disastrous games they decided they might be more productive working on a music project together. Other work commitments kept them apart until late 2010, when the pair met up with a screenwriter to discuss some possible work on a feature film project. Although their involvement with this particular film did not continue, a collaborative writing relationship had begun…

When Barrow and Salisbury revisited and started expanding upon this early material they decided to continue writing what was essentially soundtrack music. Barrow, along with album designer and long term friend, Marc Bessant, were both avid 2000AD readers from a young age, and the sprawling metropolis and classic stories of Mega-City One seemed the ideal inspiration for this ‘soundtrack’.

DROKK was written in a 6 month period between Barrow’s Portishead world tour and Salisbury’s composing jobs for the BBC. Although it is a soundtrack of sorts, Barrow and Salisbury instinctively felt that music for MC1 should steer clear of the rich orchestration common to many contemporary film scores. Even for electronica the music is often purposefully stark and spare, with the majority of tracks created exclusively on the Oberhiem 2 Voice Synthesizer (a 1975 classic keyboard), and its onboard sequencer used to create rhythm and drums sounds. The only exceptions are a handful of tracks which combine the synth with digitally manipulated and time - stretched performances of acoustic instruments (such as piano, violin, mandolin, ukulele, voice and hammered dulcimer). There is also a brief cameo from Barrow’s other band BEAK>.

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Geoffrey Paul Barrow (born 9 December 1971, Walton in Gordano, Somerset, England) is the producer/instrumentalist for Bristol-based Portishead since it’s inception in 1991.

At the dawn of the ’90s, Barrow was making a name for himself as a remixer, working with such artists as Primal Scream, Paul Weller, Gabrielle and Depeche Mode. In addition, Barrow had produced a track for Tricky and written songs for Neneh Cherry. He launched the band Beak> with fellow Bristol musicians.

Ben Salisbury (born 1970) is a British composer, particularly known for his work in film and television. He has also worked as a co-writer, arranger and musician with a number of bands. He studied music at Newcastle University and Bournemouth University.

Notable television credits include the BAFTA nominated David Attenborough series The Life of Mammals and Life in the Undergrowth, and the BAFTA winning series Life In Cold Blood. He was nominated for an Emmy Award for his score for the Wildlife on One film 'Operation Dung Beetle'

Salisbury appears as co-writer, string arranger and musician on the Malachai album 'Return To The Ugly Side' and The Beekeepers album 'Apiculture'. He writes and records as one half of the duo Dolman with Scott Hendy. Dolman released their eponymous debut album on Inflection Point records in June 2014.

In 2012 Salisbury composed the score for the documentary feature film ‘Beyonce: Life Is But A Dream' directed by Beyonce Knowles - a behind the scenes look at the singer's life and music.