Experimental electronic music king Tim Hecker composed the original score for the new series The North Water, writer-director Andrew Haigh’s adaptation of Ian McGuire’s 2016 novel starring Colin Farrell and Jack O’Connell. Hecker’s score will be released on digital platforms tomorrow, when The North Water premieres on BBC Two; a vinyl release is slated for early next year. In the US, the show is available to stream on AMC+.

“The score for The North Water was written just before and during the pandemic in 2020, mostly over arguably one of the darkest winters of some memory in Montreal,” Hecker says. “The music was an attempt to add depth and texture to a five-hour doomed arctic journey that charts a trajectory from hardened optimism into abject futility. We worked with a primary palette of synthesizers, electronics, and treated cello, in rich live spaces as well as suffocating dead ones. This version of the score is an enhanced mix of some of the material that made its way into the project.”

Listen to The North Water Original Series Score‘s opening track, “Seasick,” below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Seasick”
02 “First On Deck”
03 “Delirious”
04 “Seasick II”
05 “Left On The Ice”
06 “Our First Whale”
07 “Ice Row”
08 “It’s A Mistake To Think Too Much”
09 “The Warmth Of Drax”
10 “Winter’s Coming”
11 “Loot”
12 “A Breather”
13 “Seasick III”
14 “Twinkle In The Wasteland”
15 “Staring Over Again”

The North Water Original Series Score is out 9/10 via Invada/Lakeshore. Pre-order it here. Watch a trailer for the show below.