Podcast: Horror film scores with Matthew Nolan | Púca Festival

Episode 153 of the Nialler9 Podcast is a Halloween / Samhain special!*

On this episode we are talking about scoring horror movies and experiences.

Our guest joining Nialler and Andrea are Matthew Nolan who is the composer who has made spooky scores for Púca Festival’s outdoor installations at Slane Castle this week both on the castle itself with projection mapping as Double Take Projections, and its eerie woodlands as Oíche Shamhna Whispers.

More on Púca’s musical offerings here.

Nolan is a founder of the post-rock band 3epkano who formed in 2004. The band were known for composing and performing live scores for classic silent films like The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari, Metropolis, Faust and Nosferatu. 

Matthew shares eight pieces of influential music with us from horror film scores as listed below, and takes us through why they resonate with him.

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Matthew’s choices

1. Mica Levi – Lipstick to Void – Under the Skin (2014)
2. Jerry Goldsmith – The Dome – Logan’s Run (1976)
3. Eduard Artemyev – CoH – Mirror (1975)
4. John Carpenter – Halloween Theme (1978)
5. Krzysztof Komeda – Lullaby from Rosemary’s Baby – Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
6. Simon Fisher Turner – Isle Of Species – Nadja (1995)
7. Stuart A Staples – The Fuck Box – High Life (2018)
8. Jóhann Jóhannsson – Forging The Beast – Mandy (2018)

You’ll also hear Matthew’s score for Púca Festival at the end.

* It wouldn’t be a Halloween special without a spooky incident, and this week, Andrea’s podcast cut out at 13 minutes in so we’re using backup audio for some of this…. 👻

Last year’s Halloween special: The devil in music, a short history of horror soundtracks & spooky tunes

Songs played on the Nialler9 Podcast Spotify Playlist

See Also

Iggy Pop, Gilla Band, The Scratch & more for Dublin festival In The Meadows in 2025

Andrea has a new podcast – My Favourite Album

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