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Published by Film at Lincoln Center

Playing Along

New American Songbook

By Soraya Nadia McDonald
January 6, 2020
Composer Nicholas Britell nurtures storytelling melodies into being that are acutely attuned to the contemporary moment

Playing Along: Leonard Rosenman (Edge of the City, 1957)

By Carlos Valladares
February 20, 2019
A master of frenetic mood, the Hollywood composer brought a dark mania to films like the 1957 urban drama Edge of the City

Playing Along: Fleshed Out

By Daniel Witkin
July 5, 2018
In the Francis Bacon biopic Love Is the Devil, Ryuichi Sakamoto scores the whispers and the screams

Totally Wired

By Nick Pinkerton
February 22, 2018
Though his contributions to film were few, Mark E. Smith, late front man of the cult British band The Fall, had a career that could be called distinctly, grungily cinematic

Playing Along: Deep in the Forest

By Nick Pinkerton
May 3, 2017
Tracing the sonic dreamscapes that power the mysteries of Twin Peaks

Playing Along Playlist: Movie Theme Songs

By Film Comment
September 6, 2016
Live to tell: a special mix celebrating the (now-diminished) art of the movie theme song

Playing Along: What a Feeling

By Andrew Chan
September 6, 2016
Movie theme songs no longer carry the same cultural currency, 
but like our hearts, the form will go on