Cliff Martinez has collaborated again with writer/director Nicholas Winding Refn to provide an appropriately electrifying score for his newest film The Neon Demon. After previous collaborations with Only God Forgives (2013) and a glowingly retro score for the brutal noir of 2011’s Drive, Martinez has returned to similar instrumentation for Refn’s newest feature but with far more sinister and unsettling compositions.
For the theme of the film, synthesizer arpeggios, punchy 303-bass and a 1980’s house beat punctuate the piece while the droning chords and glistening bells shine atop. There are moments in the score where razor sharp wiry synth melodies modulate underneath your skin, or where the bass pounds your chest until you can take no more – but in the theme Martinez creates an alluring atmosphere to draw you into a film and score that will challenge your tolerance for discomfort.