Notes from the composer:

Living in Wellington, I sat a comfortable distance from the destruction and horror that accompanied the February 2011 earthquakes. For many months we watched on as images of grief, hardship and people trying to rebuild their lives dominated our screens.

When Peter Young showed me an early cut of his new film in 2015, I saw a very different image on screen. The shock and sadness was now replaced by raw creative energy, youthful invention, infectious community spirit, and the most amazing art... This was a totally different Christchurch.

The imagery in this film – both beautiful and devastating, provided a powerful canvas for music. But the people – artists, agitators, facilitators, gardeners and emboldened citizens who, in the aftermath of tragedy, rallied to a surge of creativity rarely seen – they are an inspiration to me.

It was a privilege to write music for their story.


Creating the Score:

The prevailing theme of community immediately suggested to me the use of organic instrumentation - acoustic guitars, dulcimers, mandolins, violin, viola and cello. I wanted to root the score in a folk music style, which seems able to speak for the common people like nothing else - expressing both humility and strength.

On top of this, the parallels between a dusty, rubble-ridden Christchurch and the old west were obvious - sliding resonator guitars that embody the blunt edge of progress, along with stratocasters played through western-sounding dirty tremolo, that make you almost taste the grit of a frontier town.

I also liked the idea of using electronic synth textures and deep low pads whenever the forces of power were at play and the community was being undermined.

By juxtaposing and interweaving these three stylistic components, I began to see a musical picture emerge that could represent the political and geographical landscape of the new Christchurch.

Finally, it was important to find an overview theme for the film. While there may be thriving creativity, the city’s rebuild casts a long shadow - with words like ‘transitional’ and ‘temporary’ threatening to downplay the community’s own contribution to the new Christchurch. Musically it needed something bittersweet, teetering between yearning and mournful, but with also a sense of hope... a city heading towards an uncertain future.

I would like to acknowledge my collaborators in this project – in particular director Peter Young and editor Gaylene Barnes who helped me develop the musical concept for the film, Joe Callwood who recorded and performed all of the guitars / mandolin / beltona, with immense power and beauty, and our string players Cathy Irons, Dorian Liebert and Tomas Hurnik who brought such depth and emotion to the score – thank you.