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Sicario (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack composed by Jóhann Jóhannsson for Denis Villeneuve's 2016 film Sicario . It was released under Deutsche Grammophon on September 18, 2015, a week before the film's theatrical release.

Background and recording
Sicario (2015) was the second collaboration between composer Jóhann Jóhannsson and director Denis Villeneuve after the 2013 film Prisoners. Jóhann admired Villeneuve's "aesthetic and visual sense" and the pair had a positive experience working together on Prisoners. After reading Sicario's "very original and unique" script, Jóhann was immediately convinced to score the film as he had a "strong feeling that [Villeneuve] would do something really interesting with it". Jóhann was particularly struck by the script's "sense of moral ambiguity", structure, topical themes and atmospheric style. Discussions between the two began during pre-production, and Jóhann visited the film's set in New Mexico in order to "absorb the atmosphere and feel of the location and the land".

Villeneuve, who considered Sicario as a war film, tasked Jóhann with writing "subtle war music", which he found challenging as the phrase seemed to him "almost a contradiction in terms". The brief led to him to the idea of war drums, and he consequently decided to write a score focused on the low end of the frequency spectrum, particularly through the use low percussion instruments. He recorded five different drummers in Berlin, Los Angeles and Budapest, then heavily edited and processed the recordings until they sounded "almost artificial" in order to obtain an "ever-changing texture". The end result was a "tapestry of constant, throbbing, pulsating drums" that constituted the "heartbeat that runs throughout the film". From the 55-piece orchestra used for the score (recorded at the Hungarian National Radio studios in Budapest), he focused on the low strings (including eight double basses and a ten cellos) and low wind instruments (such as contrabassoon, contrabass clarinets, tubas and trombones). He also used low drones, many of which were recorded from the 32-foot pipes of an organ in Copenhagen.

Sicario was shot without temp music, and the first rough cut of the film Jóhann received contained no music. He "[loved] working in this way" as it allows for greater freedom to experiment and "discourages falling into familiar formulas". While Villeneuve "had a strong sense of what he wanted", he still gave "gave [Jóhann] a lot of freedom in terms of how to implement that". Villeneuve and editor Joe Walker received stems from Jóhann that acted as "separate layers" that they "could re-edit and re-compose". Jóhann also tried to integrate his compositions with the film's sound design in order to prevent the music from sounding like "a layer that’s tacked on". He noted that "almost 30%" of his scores are completed in post-production through manipulation of his orchestra recordings.

Musical content
Throughout the score, but particularly for cues such as "The Beast", Jóhann took influence from 1980s industrial bands such as Swans, Test Dept and Throbbing Gristle. The orchestral writing, influenced by spectral composers such as Gérard Grisey and Horațiu Rădulescu, takes on a textural (rather than melodic) function, and makes significant use of extended techniques.

Critical reception
Paul Scott-Bates of Louder Than War praised the soundtrack as "atmospheric", "almost frightening" and "tyrannical", particularly when listened to through headphones, and considered that it "exudes an enormous power". AllMusic's Marcy Donelson found that it "delivers tension and off-kilter anxiety in both hushed and hyper musical moments". Consequence critic Michael Roffman noted that score "heavily assists" the film's chaotic setting, describing it as "a haunting score that knees your guts". Similarly, Ed Gonzalez of Slant Magazine called it "one of many elements that conjure a relentlessly terrifying realm of despair".

Personnel
All music composed, arranged and produced by Jóhann Jóhannsson. Credits adapted from Jóhann's official website.

Musicians

 * Ólafur Björn Ólafsson: percussion
 * Andrea Belfi: percussion
 * Danny Frankelâ: percussion
 * Zoltan Varga: percussion
 * Shahzad Ismaily: percussion, guitar, synthesisers
 * Hildur Guðnadóttir: solo cello
 * Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe: vocals
 * Skúli Sverrisson: bass
 * Jóhann Jóhannsson: synthesizers, piano, keyboards

Production

 * Jóhann Jóhannsson: orchestration, electronic sound processing, mixing
 * Anthony Weeden: conducting, orchestration
 * Stan Koch: additional arrangements and orchestration
 * Gabor Buczko: recording
 * B. J. Nilsen: sound design, electronic sound processing
 * Daniel Kresco: mixing
 * Francesco Donadello: additional recording
 * Ólafur Björn Ólafsson: additional recording
 * Maurizio Borgna: mixing
 * Joseph S. DeBeasi: music editing
 * Sam Jones: orchestrating assistant
 * Bo Kondren: mastering