Neil Davidge | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Born | Bristol, England |
Genres | Trip hop, film score, industrial |
Occupation(s) | Record producer, songwriter, film score composer, musician |
Instrument(s) | Bass, keyboards, guitar, drums |
Neil Davidge is an English record producer, songwriter, film score composer and musician. Once an associate of dance producers DNA, he is best known as the long-term co-writer and producer for trip hop collective Massive Attack. [1] In 1997, he also produced the Sunna album One Minute Science . During that time he has established a career as a film score composer including projects such as Push, Bullet Boy, Trouble the Water, and additional music for Clash of the Titans.
Artists he has worked with include Unkle, Damon Albarn, Elizabeth Fraser, Mos Def, David Bowie, and Snoop Dogg. [2]
In 2012, he composed the soundtrack to the video game Halo 4 and recorded "The Storm That Brought Me To You" with Tina Dico and Ramin Djawadi for the Clash of the Titans soundtrack, the first vocal track for which he is credited as an artist separately from Massive Attack. [1] In 2017, Davidge composed the critically acclaimed soundtrack for the TV series, Britannia , [3] and in 2023, co-scored Apple TV+'s Criminal Record. [4]
Davidge worked with UK duo DNA in the period between 1989 and 1992, co-producing four singles and one album. [5]
Davidge had met Massive Attack's Andrew Vowles as early as 1991, and was in and around Bristol's Coach House Studios when Portishead recorded their debut album Dummy between 1991 and 1994. Neil was introduced to the rest of Massive Attack in 1996, and hitting it off, he produced 'The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game', a song for the Batman Forever soundtrack that featured Everything But The Girl vocalist Tracey Thorn. [6]
Working in close collaboration with Massive's Robert Del Naja, Neil shaped the sound of the band's third album, 1998's Mezzanine, including the song "Teardrop", which became the theme song for the medical drama "House". Mezzanine won a Q Award for Best Album [7] and was nominated for a Mercury Award. [8]
As with Mezzanine, Massive Attack's fourth album 100th Window was largely piloted by Davidge and Robert Del Naja. Sessions were protracted and pressurised, the group discarding material to re-write the whole record in the last six months of a three-year odyssey. "Some great things had been said about Mezzanine and we didn't want to repeat ourselves", says Neil "It was a strange period of isolation and the weirdness of 9/11, but we got there in the end." [9] [ non-primary source needed ]
Following the release of 100th Window, Davidge and Del Naja established a new studio in Bristol, which would become the primary recording location for Massive Attack going forward, as well as Davidge and Del Naja's soundtrack projects. [10]
Collected was Massive Attack's best of album released on 27 March 2006. The album was preceded by the release of the single "Live With Me" on 13 March. "Live With Me" was co-written and produced by Davidge.[ citation needed ].
Heligoland is the fifth studio album by Massive Attack. Co-produced by Davidge and Robert Del Naja with additional production by Tim Goldsworthy, the record features vocals from Horace Andy, Tunde Adebimpe, Damon Albarn, Hope Sandoval, Guy Garvey and Martina Topley-Bird. Davidge co-wrote eight of the ten tracks as well as playing keyboards, bass and guitar.
In 2004 Luc Besson approached Davidge and Robert Del Naja to score the movie Danny The Dog, later renamed Unleashed. There then followed scores for Bullet Boy, Battle in Seattle, and Trouble the Water, which received an Oscar nomination as Best Documentary Feature. It is a moving study of those displaced by Hurricane Katrina which won 'Best Documentary' at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Working with Snoop Dogg, Neil also scored the music for In Prison My Whole Life, a documentary about US death-row journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Away from his collaborations with Robert, Neil scored the music to the Paul McGuigan directed Push and provided additional music to the Warner Brothers film Clash of the Titans working alongside composer Ramin Djawadi. He was approached by director Louis Leterrier to replace Matt Bellamy from Muse who had to pull out due to touring commitments in the USA. [11] Davidge also went on to score the documentary film Citizen Koch , action thriller Good People, and Monsters: Dark Continent , the sequel to Gareth Edwards' Monsters . He also scored two television films for the BBC; drama-documentary 8 Days: To The Moon and Back, co-scored with David Poore, as well as drama Sitting in Limbo , about the 2018 Windrush scandal. Both were nominated for BAFTA Awards, with the latter winning the British Academy Television Award for Best Single Drama at the 2021 British Academy Television Awards. [12]
His first TV score was for the Canal+ series Spotless , which was also later released on Netflix. This was followed by the scores for New Blood and In the Dark, both of which premiered on BBC One. In 2018 saw the release of Sky Atlantic's Britannia, starring David Morrissey, Mackenzie Crook and Kelly Reilly. Davidge's largest TV project yet, Britannia was renewed for two successive series, with season 2 premiering in 2019, and season 3 in 2021. The first season of Britannia, featuring Davidge's "stunning" score [13] was closely followed by another Davidge scored show for BBC One, Hard Sun. Starring Jim Sturgess and Agyness Deyn, Hard Sun was written and created by Luther creator Neil Cross, the latter show having used a Neil Davidge produced track, "Paradise Circus" from Massive Attack's Heligoland as its theme. He has also scored a number of television documentaries, including Amazon Studios' All or Nothing: Tottenham Hotspur, as well as co-scoring BBC Earth's Earth From Space with fellow Bristol-based composer David Poore. Davidge's newest project, Apple TV+'s Criminal Record was released on 10 January 2024. Starring Peter Capaldi and Cush Jumbo, Davidge co-scored the project with Michael Asante.
On 11 April 2012, Davidge was revealed to be the composer for the Halo 4 Original Soundtrack , the official soundtrack of the video game Halo 4 . [14] A self-professed fan of previous Halo games, he and 343 Industries felt the music needed to change to fit the new trilogy. "The phrase that kept going around was 'evolution not revolution' of the score," he said. "[They wanted a] more electronic, slightly more beat-driven direction, which is one reason why they came to me. They wanted to flesh out, sonically, a new universe. One that they could expand on in subsequent sequels.” [15] The majority of the soundtrack was written in Bristol, and recorded at Abbey Road Studios and Angel Recording Studios, both situated in London. Davidge and his production team enlisted the 50-piece Chamber Orchestra of London, as well as 26 male and female vocalists and other performers. [16] [17]
The Original Soundtrack for Halo 4 was released on 19 October 2012, and debuted at No. 50 on the Billboard 200 chart, becoming the highest peaking video game soundtrack on Billboard's charts. Nearly 9,000 units were sold in the first week alone. [18] This was followed by Halo 4 Original Soundtrack Remixes, featuring remixes by Sander van Doorn & Julian Jordan, Gui Boratto, and Andrew Bayer, as well as an Apocalyptica vs Neil Davidge remix of The Beauty of Cortana. Halo 4 Original Soundtrack Volume 2 was released digitally on 8 April 2013. [19]
Davidge established his own studio in 2010. His debut solo album Slo Light was released in February 2014, and features guest vocalists including Low Roar, Sandie Shaw and Cate Le Bon. The album was accompanied by three singles. The first single was "Slo Light", released on 3 December 2013. The second single, "Sleepwalking", released on 20 February 2014, five days before the album's release, followed by the third single, "Riot Pictures", on 7 October 2014.
Year | Title | Notes |
---|---|---|
2004 | Bullet Boy | Co-scored with Robert Del Naja |
2005 | Unleashed | Co-scored with Robert Del Naja |
2007 | In Prison My Whole Life | Co-scored with Robert Del Naja |
Battle In Seattle | Co-scored with Robert Del Naja | |
2008 | Trouble the Water | Co-scored with Robert Del Naja |
2009 | Push | |
2013 | Citizen Koch | |
2014 | Monsters: Dark Continent | |
2019 | 8 Days: To the Moon and Back | Television movie, co-scored with David Poore |
2020 | Sitting in Limbo | Television movie |
Year | Title | Notes |
---|---|---|
2015 | Spotless | |
2016 | New Blood | |
2017 | In the Dark | |
2018-2021 | Britannia | Seasons 1-3 |
2018 | Hard Sun | |
2019 | Earth from Space | Co-scored with David Poore |
2020 | All or Nothing: Tottenham Hotspur | |
2021 | Earth Moods | |
2022 | The Fear Index | |
Desperate Measures | ||
Earth Great Rivers II | Co-scored with David Poore | |
2024 | Criminal Record | Co-scored with Michael 'Mikey J' Asante |
Year | Title | Notes |
---|---|---|
2012 | Halo 4 | Additional score by Kazuma Jinnochi |
Year | Artist(s) | Title | Label | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
2014 | Davidge | Slo Light | 7 Hz Productions | |
Year | Artist(s) | Title | Album | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
2013 | Davidge | "Slo Light" | Slo Light | Vocals by Stephonik Youth |
"Gallant Foxes" | Vocals by Cate Le Bon | |||
2014 | "Sleepwalking" | Vocals by Emi Green | ||
"Riot Pictures" | Vocals by Sandie Shaw | |||
"Sensor / Anyone Laughing" | Vocals by Claire Tchaikowski & Jhelisa Anderson |
Year | Title | Label | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2004 | Danny The Dog (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) | Virgin/EMI | Co-composed with Robert Del Naja, released as Massive Attack |
2005 | Bullet Boy | Virgin | Co-composed with Robert Del Naja |
2012 | Halo 4 (Original Soundtrack) | Microsoft Studios/343 Industries/7Hz Productions | |
Halo 4 (Original Soundtrack Remixes) | |||
2013 | Halo 4 (Original Soundtrack Vol. 2) | Additional music by Kazuma Jinnochi | |
2015 | Spotless (Soundtrack) | 7Hz Productions | |
Monsters: Dark Continent | |||
2017 | Britannia (Music From The Original TV Series) | SATV Music/SATV Publishing | |
2019 | Britannia II (Music From The Original TV Series) | SATV Music/SATV Publishing | |
2021 | Music From Earth Moods (Original Soundtrack) | National Geographic Partners | |
Britannia II (Music From The Original TV Series) | SATV Music/SATV Publishing |
Year | Artist(s) | Title | Label | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1992 | DNA | Taste This | EMI | Co-writer (tracks 5, 6 & 8), co-producer (tracks 1, 2, 5-8) |
Hugh Cornwell, Roger Cook and Andy West | CCW | UFO | Co-producer (tracks 1-2, 7, 9-10) | |
1994 | Rozalla | Look No Further | Epic | Co-producer (tracks 6, 7, 12) |
Toni Pearen | Intimate | Mushroom | Co-producer (tracks 1, 4-6, 8-11, 13) | |
1998 | Massive Attack | Mezzanine | Virgin/Circa | Co-producer |
Singles 90/98 | Virgin/Circa | Co-producer ("Risingson", "Teardrop", "Angel", "Inertia Creeps", "Euro Zero Zero") | ||
2000 | Sunna | One Minute Science | Virgin/Melankolic | Co-producer |
2003 | Massive Attack | 100th Window | Virgin | Co-writer, co-producer |
2006 | Collected | Virgin | Co-writer (Disc 1: tracks 7, 10-11, 14; Disc 2: tracks 1-4, 6-8, 10), co-producer (Disc 1: tracks 3-5, 7, 9-11, 14; disc 2: tracks 1-8, 10) | |
2009 | Terry Callier | Hidden Conversations | Mr Bongo | Co-writer, co-producer (tracks 1, 9, 10) |
2010 | Massive Attack | Heligoland | Virgin | Co-writer (all tracks except 7 & 9), co-producer |
Year | Artist(s) | Title | Label | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1992 | DNA ft. Jo Nye | Blue Love (Call My Name) (Remixes) | EMI | Co-producer, remixer (tracks 1,2) |
DNA ft. Sharon Redd | Can You Handle It | EMI | Co-producer (tracks 1-3) |
Year | Artist(s) | Title | Album | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1984 | Big Outdoor Type | "Call You On Sundays" | Non-album single | Co-writer |
1990 | Intime | "People (Let's Get Along)" | Non-album single | Co-writer |
1992 | Exposé | "I Specialize in Love" | Exposé | Co-producer |
1993 | Kim Appleby | "Light of the World" | Breakaway | Co-writer, co-writer |
1994 | Toni Pearen | "Walkaway Lover" | Intimate | Co-producer |
1995 | Massive Attack and Tracey Thorn | "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game" | Batman Forever: Music From The Motion Picture | Co-producer |
Toni Pearen | "Joy" | Intimate | Co-producer | |
1997 | Massive Attack | "Risingson" | Mezzanine | Co-producer |
1998 | "Teardrop" | |||
"Angel" | ||||
"Inertia Creeps" | ||||
Dannii Minogue | "Coconut" | Girl | Co-producer | |
2000 | Sunna | "Power Struggle" | One Minute Science | Co-producer |
"O.D" | ||||
"I'm Not Trading" | ||||
2001 | Lupine Howl | "Vaporizer" | The Carnivorous Lunar Activities of Lupine Howl | Additional production |
2002 | Massive Attack & Mos Def | "I Against I" | Blade II: The Soundtrack / Special Cases | Co-writer, co-producer |
2003 | Massive Attack | "Special Cases" | 100th Window | Co-writer, co-producer |
"Butterfly Caught" | ||||
2006 | Massive Attack | "Live with Me" | Collected | Co-writer, co-producer |
"False Flags" / "United Snakes" | ||||
2009 | Massive Attack | "Psyche" | Heligoland | Co-writer, co-producer |
2010 | "Paradise Circus" | Co-producer | ||
Year | Artist(s) | Title | Album | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1991 | Intime | "Second Sight" | The Hard Sell | Co-writer, compilation album track |
1993 | Beat System | "To A Brighter Day (O' Happy Day)(Radio Edit)" | Platinum On Black | Co-producer, compilation album track |
Dannii Minogue | "Be Careful" | Get into You | Co-writer, co-producer | |
1995 | Massive Attack and Tracey Thorn | "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game" | Batman Forever: Music From The Motion Picture | Co-producer |
Massive Attack | "Fake The Aroma" | The Help Album | Co-producer, compilation album track, rework of "Karmacoma" | |
1997 | "Wire" | Welcome to Sarajevo (Music from the Motion Picture) | Co-writer, co-producer | |
"Superpredators (Metal Postcard)" | The Jackal (Music from and Inspired By) | Co-producer | ||
Elizabeth Fraser | "Take Me With You" | The Winter Guest (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) | Producer | |
2001 | David Bowie & Massive Attack | "Nature Boy" | Moulin Rouge! Music from Baz Luhrmann's Film | Co-producer |
Unkle | "Invasion" | Never, Never, Land | Co-writer, co-producer | |
2007 | "Twilight" | War Stories | Co-writer, co-producer | |
2009 | Hook And The Twin | "They'll Get Your Head" | Bang Bang Cherry | Co-producer |
Sunna | "Heaven Sends" | Two Minute Terror | Co-producer | |
2010 | Ramin Djawadi | "The Storm That Brought Me To You" | Clash of the Titans: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | Co-composer |
Neil Davidge | "Be My Weapon" | Composer |
Year | Artist(s) | Title | Album | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1991 | Absolute ft. Joe Church | "Don't You Wanna Be Mine (Dub Plus Mix)" | Non-album single | Remixer |
1992 | Geoffrey Williams | "Summer Breeze (Flowerpot Mix)" | Summer Breeze (The DNA Mixes) | Co-remixer with DNA |
"Summer Breeze (DNA Extended Version)" | ||||
1996 | DJ Food | "Stop Phink (Hidden Chipsters Mix)" | Refried Food Lunchbox | Co-remixer |
1996 | Massive Attack | "Hymn of the Big Wheel" | The Fan (Music from the Motion Picture) | Co-remixer, remix for The Fan |
1998 | Unkle | "Rabbit in Your Headlights (3D Mix-Reverse Light)" | Rabbit in Your Headlights | Co-remix with 3D |
1998 | KC and the Sunshine Band | "Get Down Tonight (Miami Club Mix)" | The Very Best Of | Co-remixer with DNA, co-producer |
Manic Street Preachers | "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next (Massive Attack Remix)" | If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next | Co-remixer | |
2000 | Primal Scream | "Kill All Hippies (Massive Attack Remix)" | XTRMNTR | Co-remixer |
2001 | The Dandy Warhols | "Godless (Massive Attack Mix)" | Godless | Co-remixer |
A Perfect Circle | "3 Libras (All Main Courses Mix)" | Co-remix with 3D | ||
2003 | Primal Scream | "Exterminator (Massive Attack Remix)" | Dirty Hits | Co-remixer |
Massive Attack are an English trip hop collective formed in 1988 in Bristol by Robert "3D" Del Naja, Grant "Daddy G" Marshall, Adrian "Tricky" Thaws and Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles. The group currently consists of Del Naja, Daddy G and Tricky.
100th Window is the fourth studio album by English electronic music group Massive Attack, released on 10 February 2003 by Virgin Records. The album was mainly produced by lead member Robert Del Naja, as the group's producer Andrew Vowles departed shortly after the release of their previous album Mezzanine (1998), and Grant Marshall opted out of the production of the album. 100th Window features vocals from regular guest Horace Andy, as well as newcomers Sinéad O'Connor and Damon Albarn. Stylistically, it is the first album by the group to make no use of existing samples, and contains none of the hip hop or jazz fusion styles that the group were initially known for.
Unkle is a British musical outfit founded in 1992 by James Lavelle. Originally categorised as trip hop, the group once included producer DJ Shadow and have employed a variety of guest artists and producers.
Robert Del Naja, also known as 3D, is a British artist, musician, singer and songwriter. He emerged as a graffiti artist and member of the Bristol collective the Wild Bunch, and later as a founding member and sole consistent member of the band Massive Attack, with which he is still active. In 2009, he received the British Academy's Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music.
Eutopia is a 2020 EP by British trip hop group Massive Attack, released on July 10, 2020 on the band's YouTube account as a collection of three music videos; as of October 2024, it remains unavailable on Music streaming services. The EP represents the band's first work in four years, following the 2016 releases of the Ritual Spirit EP and the single "The Spoils".
Mezzanine is the third studio album by English electronic music group Massive Attack, released on 20 April 1998 by Circa and Virgin Records. For the album, the group began to explore a darker aesthetic, and focused on a more atmospheric style influenced by British post-punk, industrial music, hip hop and dub music.
Martin O'Donnell is an American composer, audio director, and sound designer known for his work on video game developer Bungie's titles, such as the Myth series, Oni, the Halo series, and Destiny. O'Donnell collaborated with his Michael Salvatori for many of the scores; he has also directed voice talent and sound design for the Halo trilogy.
Collected is a compilation album by British trip hop collective Massive Attack, released on 27 March 2006. The album was preceded by the release of the single "Live with Me" on 13 March. It collects most of the band's singles up until this point.
Bullet Boy by Robert Del Naja and Neil Davidge of Massive Attack is the soundtrack to the film, directed by Saul Dibb.
"Butterfly Caught" is a song on English trip hop collective Massive Attack's fourth full-length album, 100th Window. It was released as the second single from this album on 16 June 2003. The song was written by Neil Davidge and Robert Del Naja, the latter of whom performs vocals on the song.
"Teardrop" is a song by English trip hop group Massive Attack. Vocals are performed by Scottish singer Elizabeth Fraser, former lead singer of Cocteau Twins, who also wrote the lyrics. It was released on 27 April 1998 by Circa and Virgin as the second single from the group's third studio album, Mezzanine (1998). A harpsichord-driven track, "Teardrop" was originally set to feature vocals from Madonna, whom Massive Attack turned down in favour of Fraser.
Andrew Lee Isaac Vowles, also known as Mushroom, is an English musician, known for being a founding member of the trip hop/abstract art collective Massive Attack, along with Robert Del Naja (3D), Adrian Thaws (Tricky) and Grantley Marshall.
Heligoland is the fifth studio album by English electronic music duo Massive Attack, released on 8 February 2010 by Virgin Records. Named after a German archipelago, it was their first studio album in seven years, following 100th Window (2003). It has been certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).
"Inertia Creeps" is a song by English electronic music band Massive Attack, released on 19 October 1998. It was the fourth and final single released off their third album, Mezzanine (1998). It is the least commercially successful of the four singles released from Mezzanine, charting only on the New Zealand Singles Chart at No. 16, but it has been noted as one of the best singles from the album.
The discography of British trip hop band Massive Attack consists of five studio albums, three compilations, five remix albums, one soundtrack, five EPs, eighteen singles, and twenty-seven music videos. The group was founded in 1988 by musicians Robert "3D" Del Naja, Adrian "Tricky" Thaws, Grantley "Daddy G" Marshall, and Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles in Bristol, England. Prior to this, all four were members of British sound system the Wild Bunch.
"Risingson" is a song by the English trip hop group Massive Attack, released as a single on 7 July 1997 by Virgin Records. It is the first single from their third album, Mezzanine (1998), and the eighth single overall.
The Halo 4 Original Soundtrack is the official soundtrack to the first-person shooter video game Halo 4, developed by 343 Industries and published by Microsoft Studios. British record producer Neil Davidge was Halo 4's main composer and producer. The soundtrack was released on October 19, 2012 in Australia and New Zealand, and October 22 everywhere else. A second volume containing more of the score was released digitally on April 8, 2013.
"Angel" is a song by English trip hop group Massive Attack, featuring the vocals and songwriting from Horace Andy, and is partially based on Andy's song "You Are My Angel". It was released as the third single from their third studio album, Mezzanine (1998), on 13 July 1998. "Angel" peaked at number 30 on the UK Singles Chart.
Ritual Spirit is an EP by British trip hop trio Massive Attack, released on 28 January 2016. It features trip hop artist Tricky for the first time since the release of Protection in 1994, and also features Scottish hip-hop group Young Fathers, London rapper Roots Manuva and singer Azekel.
Slo Light is the debut studio album by English musician, composer, and record producer Neil Davidge, under the name Davidge. The album was released on 25 February 2014, and was produced by Davidge himself. This album marks Davidge's first solo studio album, after several years working as a film score composer and record producer, best known for his collaborations with Massive Attack. The album was recorded in Christchurch Studios, best known for recording of Massive Attack's album, Mezzanine. Former Strangelove's vocalist and guitarist Patrick Duff is featured on two of the album's bonus tracks. The album was met with generally positive reviews from music critics.
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