I had a fantastic time working on the second season of this ingenious series for Apple TV+ created by Christopher Miller. The supremely talented Daniel Pemberton, who had worked on the show’s first season, had his hands pretty full writing the (epic) score to Across the Spiderverse, and so he called on me to step in to co-compose Season Two with him. Some characters return from the first series, but Afterparty S2 features an amazing new cast and a brand new case to unravel. This hilarious comedy-murder-mystery shows the events from the perspective of a different character in each of its ten episodes, and each character’s story is told in a different cinematic genre… from romantic comedy to film noir, from epic romance to heist movie.
The way in which Christopher Miller and the show’s writers manage to keep the humour, the tension and the mystery going across all 10 episodes, while shifting through a myriad of different filmic styles is nothing less than virtuosic. Musically, it was fantastic to be able to lean in to each genre, and have the luxury of recording with a 60 piece orchestra in Macedonia for the big orchestral moments in the series. I’ve posted a few clips from the score here (see if you can guess which genre they’re from) and am delighted to say that a full soundtrack for the series is being released on 1st September. Will add details in due course!
As wells as the Fames Orchestra in Macedonia, many thanks to Gareth Williams who mixed the score, and some of the amazing solo musicians; Flora Curzon (violin), Nick Holland (cello), Mike Lesirge (sax), Graeme Flowers (trumpet), and Mike Holt (guitar). It was a pleasure to work with Daniel Pemberton on this series (as well as the lovely Alex Gruz who contributed additional music to Episode 5) and the genius that is Christopher Miller. I was delighted to be able to get to the premiere screening in LA’s famous Fox Bruin cinema.
If you haven’t already, do check the show out on Apple TV+ (NB. You don’t need to have watched season 1 to enjoy this season, although of course you SHOULD!). Chris and the team created posters for each episode of the series, which is a super idea, so I’ve included some of them here too.
Here’s a short video of the orchestral recording with Fames Orchestra in Macedonia, during the sessions for Episode 9, the Hitchock / 1950s Melodrama episode starring the amazing Elizabeth Perkins.
