Ben Frost

Ben Frost (born 1980) is an Australian-Icelandic musician, composer, record producer, sound designer, and director.

Life

Born in Melbourne, Australia, and based in Reykjavík, Iceland, since 2005, Frost composes minimalist, instrumental, and experimental music, with influences ranging from classical minimalism to punk rock and black metal.

His early releases include the guitar-oriented albums ''Steel Wound'' (2003) and ''School of Emotional Engineering'' (as part of the band School of Emotional Engineering) (2004). ''Theory of Machines'' (2007) marked a radical shift toward more angular aggressive music and was further advanced on the critically acclaimed '' By The Throat'' (2009). In 2011, commissioned by Unsound Festival, and as part of a collaboration with Brian Eno and fellow Icelandic composer Daníel Bjarnason, Frost released Solaris, a conceptual album which rescored Andrei Tarkovsky's film of the same name. In 2014 after signing with British record label Mute Records, Frost released the critically lauded and distinctly more rhythmical album ''Aurora.'' In 2017 Frost traveled to Chicago to record ''The Centre Cannot Hold'' with Steve Albini. In addition to his studio albums, Frost has collaborated with contemporary dance companies Chunky Move, the Icelandic Dance Company and the British choreographer Wayne McGregor. He composed the music for Wayne McGregor's 2010 production ''FAR.''

Alongside his solo work, Frost has collaborated often with other musicians, including composer Nico Muhly, Valgeir Sigurðsson, Björk, Tim Hecker, Colin Stetson, Daníel Bjarnason, and American rock band Swans, commonly contributing to albums as a producer, studio engineer, and performer.

Frost co-composed ''Music for Solaris'' with Daníel Bjarnason, which was inspired by both Stanisław Lem's novel ''Solaris'' and the 1972 Tarkovsky film of the same name. It was performed by Frost, Bjarnason, and Sinfonietta Cracovia. He composed the music for the films ''Sleeping Beauty'', the Icelandic drama '' The Deep'', and the 2015 British television series ''Fortitude''. In 2012, he traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo with Richard Mosse, along with Trevor Tweeten to score the sound for Mosse's artwork ''The Enclave''.

In 2013, in his first directorial role, he premiered a critically acclaimed music-theatre adaptation of the Iain Banks novel '' The Wasp Factory''.

In 2015, Frost, in collaboration with Paul Haslinger, created the score for ''Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege''.

Two years later, in 2017, Frost scored the film '' Super Dark Times''. In that same year, he premiered a new installation, titled ''Incoming'', with Richard Mosse and Trevor Tweeten at the Barbican Centre in London, now touring worldwide.

Frost participated in the recording of ''Swans 2019 album Leaving Meaning and joined their touring band.

From 2017 to 2020, Frost created the score for all three seasons of Netflix's German sci-fi thriller ''Dark.''

Music for film and television

*''Sleeping Beauty'' – Directed by Julia Leigh
* ''Super Dark Times'' – Directed by Kevin Phillips
*''Fortitude'' – Directed by Kieron Hawkes
*''Dark'' – Directed by Baran Bo Odar
*''Raised By Wolves'' – Directed by Ridley Scott
*''What Remains'' – Directed by Ran Huang
*''1899'' – Directed by Baran Bo Odar

Opera

* ''The Wasp Factory'' (2013)
* ''The Murder of Halit Yozgat'' (2020)

Discography

* ''Music for Sad Children'' (2001) – independent
* ''Steel Wound'' (2003/re-issue 2007/2012) – Room40
* ''School of Emotional Engineering'' (2004) – Architecture
* ''Theory of Machines'' (2007) – Bedroom Community
* '' By the Throat'' (2009) – Bedroom Community
* ''The Invisibles'' (2010) – for Amnesty International
* ''Sólaris'' (with Daníel Bjarnason) (2011) – Bedroom Community
* ''Sleeping Beauty'' (2011) – independent – soundtrack for Julia Leigh's movie of the same name.
* ''Black Marrow'' (2013) – independent
* ''FAR'' (2013) – independent
* ''Aurora'' (2014) – Mute Records / Bedroom Community
* ''Variant'' (2014) – Bedroom Community
* Tom Clancy's Siege (Original Game Soundtrack) (with Paul Haslinger) (2015) – Ubisoft Music
* ''The Wasp Factory'' (2016) – Bedroom Community
* ''Threshold of Faith'' (2017) – Mute Records
* ''Catastrophic Deliquescence, Music From Fortitude'' (2015-2018) – Mute Records – soundtrack for Fortitude (TV series)
* '' The Centre Cannot Hold'' (2017) – Mute Records
* '' Super Dark Times'' (2017) – ''Super Dark Times'' Soundtrack – soundtrack for Kevin Phillips's film of the same name
* ''Dark – Netflix series Dark Cycle 1 Soundtrack'' (2019) – Invada Records
* ''Dark – Netflix series Dark Cycle 2 Soundtrack'' (2019) – Invada Records
* ''Dark – Netflix series Dark Cycle 3 Soundtrack'' (2020) – Invada Records
* ''Broken Spectre –'' Vinyl Factory

See also

*List of ambient music artists

References

External links

*
Ben Frost - Credits - AllMusic
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frost, Ben
1980 births
Living people
Australian male composers
Australian composers
Australian expatriates in Iceland
Musicians from Melbourne
Mute Records artists
Australian experimental musicians
Australian electronic musicians