Adem Ilhan

Composer
(and album producer)

dir. James Griffiths

This lovely film is all about music (and people, and love, and letting go…) and I loved the premise from the moment I was approached to work on this. The film features many original songs written and performed by the cast, but also features those songs being played in the background on vinyl - I had to make those tracks come into being as well as scoring the movie. Luckily all I had to do, to mis-quote the Beatles, was act naturally: the music was all meant to be 00’s alt folk, and I produced my fair share of the stuff back in the day (not least with my other day job ‘Adem’). I produced and played many of the instruments on the soundtrack album featuring the songs.

The job of the score was to enhance the depth and warmth of the characters and location. Lots of old instruments creaking and trrrring-ing and slightly detuned and slightly wonky - I loved making this music, and you can hear it on the album of the score. Conceptually the instrumentation of the score was that of the album, minus the voice and acoustic guitar, so when the live performances happen on screen, we feel a completeness.

A beautiful film starring Tim Key, Tom Basden and Carey Mulligan

Composer

Dir. Thea Sharrock

This Netflix movie featuring Bill Nighy and Micheal Ward is a warm and heartfelt story set around The Homeless World Cup. It looks at sensitive issues and human need for connection and belonging. I approached the score in two sections - the music for the event, which was orchestral and uplifting and the music for the internal conflicts of the characters, which was mostly a haunting but hopeful solo processed electric guitar with some muted piano.

Composer

An excellent 6-part series for the BBC. The themes and tones of this ‘dramedy’ are subtle and shifting and the score had to both follow the moral fluidity of the characters, whilst in contrast rooting the action firmly into modern SW London.

Composer (both series)

Director: Elliott Hegart
Writer: Oliver Lyttelton

The format of this series (18 parts at 10 minutes each) shaped the musical approach quite a bit and I enjoyed working to it. Some of the set pieces needed a deft touch to encourage empathy and drama. I wrote and recorded many of the songs for the series.

Th second series gave us a bit more breathing space for the score and enabled a deeper emotional pull alongside the contrasting wilder upbeat energy.

Composer

A controversial comedy set in police school. The score was made from various chopped up and processed elements with a wonky edge to carry the silly energy forward and to connect us to the characters. Six part series.

Composer

My main job for this six part series (BBC/ Showtime) was to score emotional heavy lifting and infuse scenes with energy in such a way that they flowed seamlessly in character between the excellent commercial tracks that also featured. I had a particular breakthrough after a particularly deep dive into the Amapiano scene…

Composer

A six-part series written by and starring Steve Coogan and Sarah Solemani. I scored this series and Daniel Pemberton wrote the title theme which I performed on. The series studies various perspectives of issues around gender, the metoo movement and cancel culture; I tried to reflect the various viewpoints in the voicing of the music whilst underpinning the inherent comedy of the script. I also enjoyed creating diegetic music for some key scenes.

composer

I scored this six-part Netflix series featuring Catherine Tate in many guises. An exercise in restraint, this worked best with a reserved score so as not to interfere with it’s mockumentary style.

Composer (both series)

Directed by Armando Iannucci

I scored every episode of this HBO flagship series. I was thrilled to be asked aboard this excellent show. I have tried to create an original and unusual palette for this series concentrating more on the human weirdnesses of the situation rather than falling into any (very temping and fun) sci-fi tropes.

Music Producer

Directed by Danny Boyle
Written by Richard Curtis

I was Music Producer on this film along with the excellent Daniel Pemberton who scored the film; we were responsible for all the on screen performances and their arrangements. Together, Daniel Pemberton and I produced the companion album to the film.

Composer

Directed by Armando Iannucci

I scored this hilarious multi award winning comedy. It was a joy to work again with Armando Iannucci after composing all the music for the series Time Trumpet. For this film I had to really put ego to one side - one of the first instructions was that no-one should notice the music so as not to break the documentary film effect. Lots of invisible momentum to move things forward and touches at just the right moments.

Composer

Directed by David Farr

I scored this dark psychological thriller. Also written by David Farr (Hanna, The Night Manager), the movie lies somewhere between Polanski and Hitchcock. I composed an uneasy score that bled from nursery rhyme into atonal music for contemporary double string quartet.

Composer

Directed by Richard Jobson

This is an ancient saga re-imagined as a psychological revenge thriller with a PTSD twist. A dark, foreboding score that I shaped to enhance the abstract nature of the more atmospheric scenes and further distance the protagonist from the world around him.

Composer

Directed by Peter Medak

This award winning film tracks the story of a lost Peter Sellers feature and the series of nightmare events that befell it. Made by the director of the original film, it’s intriguing, hilarious and heartfelt. The score transports us around the world, across decades and through a rollercoaster of emotions, tying together the various threads and underpinning the footage and recollections.

Composer

Directed by Hans Weingartner

The follow up film by the director of THE EDUKATORS is a comedy about the effects of ratings-chasing tv. A disillusioned tv executive with an oddball team try to change the way the people watch and think. The score is tender and warm, with an acoustic slant, evolving from the wild metal/rock pieces to track the growth of the main protagonist.

Composer

Directed by Andrew Lang

This multi award winning film traces the journey of some young boys in Cuba as they board at a special school to train to become the greatest boxers in the world. The score follows these boys as they face challenges and grow toward their goal.

Co-composer

Directed by Paul Whittington

This BBC drama series featured some excellent performances and made the news with it’s retelling of a grim real-life story from not so long ago. I made the acoustic, guitar-based music with Badly Drawn Boy, who co-wrote the score with me.

Composer

Directed by Sasha Snow

This multi award winning film is a beautifully shot dramatisation of the strange story of Grant Hadwin - tree feller, eco-visionary, mystery. The score enhances the wild beauty of the old growth rainforest and remote Canadian towns where it is set, and tracks the untethering of the main character. Part drama, part documentary - it’s a compelling translation of the book The Golden Spruce.

Composer

Directed by: Eoghan Kidney

This dark, abstract animation was conceived at Werner Herzog’s Rogue School featuring the apocalyptic artwork of Robyn O’Neill. The unsettling modernist score follows the protagonist’s bewildered journey.

I was invited to score a whole season for the RSC - The Tempest, Twelfth Night, Comedy of Errors - and jumped at the chance. As well as the scores (which reached across the productions along with the acting ensemble), I wrote arrangements for all the featured songs and taught the cast how to perform and present them.
This isle is full of noises.

Composer

Directed by Leo Maguire

Multi award winning documentary that garnered a lot of attention for its depiction of the travelling community’s bare-fist fighting traditions and the familial reach of it. The score connects the actions, places and the people and underpinned the unflinching visuals.

I have scored all of Leo Maguire’s documentary films, including Dogging Tales and The Lorry Jumpers.

Composer

Directed by: Armando Iannucci

I scored this whole brilliant comedy series. An ascerbic and abstract view of current affairs, with the fantastic premise of looking at today from the future. The score is exploratory and appropriately weird.

Contributor

Directed by Shane Meadows

This multi award winning feature has a remarkable soundtrack (released by Warp records), to which I contributed featuring parts. Music to mass murder to… lovely.

Contributor - music, mixing and arrangements

Directed by Peter Middleton and James Spinney

This multi award winning film is a beautiful dramatisation of the story of John Hull and his detailed diaries that trace the onset of his blindness. I made additional score and mixed other sections, with music that reflects the beautiful camerawork, design and pace of the film.

I was awarded the prestigious Paul Hamlyn Award for composers - I am incredibly proud to have received this rare distinction.

Co-composer

I was invited to co-score the inaugural event of the new Rambert building. A Merce Cunningham EVENT that found me collaborating with Rambert, Philip Selway (RADIOHEAD), Quinta and Gerhard Richter. This very highly praised award winning production embraced happenstance; the score was conceived separately from the dance (as insisted on by John Cage and Merce Cunningham), and only brought together for the performance.

I am a singer songwriter, a producer and multi instrumentalist. I have released records on many prestigious labels and toured them, playing my music to people around the world.

Please check out Adem.tv for more details.