Listen: Michael Giacchino's First Single From His Debut Solo Album
Earlier this year, we saw the first short film from Oscar and Emmy-winning composer Michael Giacchino, entitled Monster Challenge. Now he's pushing into new creative territory again, this time by releasing his first-ever non-soundtrack album. It's a concept album called Travelogue Volume 1, and you can listen to the jazzy first single below.
Michael Giacchino is among the best composers of the 21st century. His work includes the scores for movies like The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Star Trek, Up, Let Me In, Inside Out, Doctor Strange, and the upcoming The Batman, as well as TV shows like Lost, Alias, and Fringe. Now he's doing something he's never done before: releasing an ambitious solo album that was recorded virtually during the pandemic.
The album, Michael Giacchino and the Novelle Modernica Orchestra's Travelogue Volume 1, "takes the listener on a cosmic journey of both space and time, unlike anything they have heard before. The record follows a space traveller seeking solace on a planet that isn't as broken and lost as her own distant world. Upon discovering earth, the story unfolds throughout its 11 captivating tracks."
Check out the captivating trailer for his new concept album, which was commissioned by recent CalArts Animation Program graduates Joey Karwal, Lorenzo Fresta, and Gobelins graduate Bruno Cohen Castelnuovo:
The album was recorded in a socially distanced manner during the pandemic, with Giacchino reuniting with musicians he's been working with for twenty years. Here's the first single, which is titled "Sidereal Day 2" and features an atmospheric introductory narrative of an alien landing on Earth and encountering humanity for the first time. The piano-heavy music is jazzy and bouncy, inspired by easy listening gods of the 1950s and 1960s, and you can hear hints of Giacchino's playful personality between the notes. This is very much my jam, and it sounds like the perfect type of music to whisk us away during this seemingly never-ending pandemic.
Mondo's Death Waltz Originals is releasing the album later this month, with album artwork by Henry Abrams (J.J.'s son). Here's the cover and the album credits:
