MARVEL Music to Release MARVEL’S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. Soundtrack

Gather ’round all ye Agents of SHIELD fans! I’ve got news and things! Have you enjoyed the music from Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD? Well now you can own it! Read on for complete details.

Press Release

Marvel Music is releasing the soundtrack for Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. physical CD on October 9, 2015. The digital album is available now. EMMY Award® winner Bear McCreary (Outlander, The Walking Dead) composed the music for the series.

“I’ve always adored superheroes and their musical fanfares,” said McCreary. “Collaborating with Marvel, Joss Whedon and his creative team is truly a dream come true. Together, we craft a score each week that I hope measures up to the insanely high standards of Marvel fans around the world.”

“The first season of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was the most ambitious season of television I have ever been involved in. The sheer scope of this project was daunting: to score 22 episodes in 22 unique orchestral sessions, with orchestras ranging from 55 to 95 players, at the best sound stages in Los Angeles, with each episode requiring minimally 30 minutes of score!”

Included on the soundtrack are some of Marvel and McCreary’s favorite cues, including the main title theme, “Aftermath of the Uprising” and “0-8-4,” and “Cello Concerto” from the episode “The Only Light in the Darkness,” an episode that centered around Coulson’s ex-girlfriend, a cellist.

“My musical fascination with Coulson’s ex began in Episode 11 [The Magical Place]. There was a scene where Raina mentions The Cellist to Coulson and strikes a deep, emotional nerve,” said McCreary. “I was thrilled as I read the script for ‘The Only Light in the Darkness’, realizing that the episode would not only provide a chance for me to expand the Cellist Theme, but that the character herself would actually play it on screen.” McCreary worked closely with the actress who played The Cellist, Amy Acker, on set to make sure it appeared she was a cello virtuoso.

The episode ‘0-8-4’ blends grandiose orchestral writing with intense synths. McCreary is also noted for his use of ethnic instrumentation in his scores. He described, “this episode is almost entirely one giant action cue (or so it felt when I was writing it) so I relied on the heavy synths and pounding percussion to cut through the chaos during moments when the orchestra alone would be unable to compete with the sound design The South American setting of “0-8-4″ gave me an excuse to bring an ethnic component to the score.”

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. track list follows:

1. “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Overture”
2. “Showdown at Union Station”
3. “0-8-4”
4. “Rocket Launch”
5. “The Obelisk”
6. “Aftermath of the Uprising”
7. “Gravitonium”
8. “Cal”
9. “Cello Concerto”
10. “Willing to Sacrifice”
11. “Alien DNA”
12. “FZZT”
13. “Garrett”
14. “Hail Hydra”
15. “Helicopter Rescue”
16. “Terrigen Crystals”
17. “The Big Bang”
18. “The Rising Tide”

Written by Bear McCreary, Steven Kaplan
Album Produced by Joe Augustine & Bear McCreary
Score Produced by Bear McCreary & Steve Kaplan

About Bear McCreary

His out-of-the-box thinking led WIRED Magazine to call Bear McCreary a “Secret Weapon.” His unique combination of atypical instrumental background (he is a professional accordionist) with rigorous classical training prepared him to compose for disparate genres. By the age of 24, McCreary was launched into pop culture history with his groundbreaking score to Syfy’s hit series Battlestar Galactica, for which he composed “the most innovative music on TV today” (Variety). It “fits the action so perfectly, it’s almost devastating: a sci-fi score like no other” (NPR). Io9.com declared Bear McCreary one of the Ten Best Science Fiction Composers of all time, listing him alongside legends John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith and Bernard Herrmann. In addition to earning his first Emmy® Award in 2013, McCreary was voted “Composers’ Choice Composer of the Year – Television” for 2013 by his peers in ASCAP, the first award of its kind.

An Emmy® Award winner for Da Vinci’s Demons McCreary also composes for The Walking Dead (which shattered records with 17.3 million viewers for its fifth season debut), STARZ’s debut series Outlander (for Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore who he previously worked with on (Battlestar Galactica), Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.—the #1 series debut of the 2013 fall season, the STARZ series Black Sail, the Syfy series Defiance, and the feature films Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie, Everly and Europa Report. McCreary recently earned his fourth Emmy nomination, his first for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Drama), with Outlander.

The third season of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. premieres on September 29th at 9/8c on ABC. The digital soundtrack is available at digital retailers today and the physical album will be available wherever music is sold on October 9, 2015.

You’re welcome!

Photos: ABC/Florian Schneider