Aisling Brouwer is a wondrous sonic stringsmith and a truly enjoyable guest to chat with. Her compositions on Pompeii: Out of Time walk the line between documentary, true crime and dramatization yet the wand she weaves puts all the pieces together brilliantly.
“Scoring Pompeii: Out of Time meant finding music for a moment we all think we already know and then discovering how much of it we didn’t. I wanted the score to hold space for both the seismic force and scale of Vesuvius, and the intimate, human choices of the people living through it.
The Pompeiian Cornu sits at the heart of that search – an instrument reborn from the very ash that destroyed it, preserved by the same disaster that once silenced it. Recorded at Real World Studios, its sound is woven through the score alongside haunting vocals and experimental orchestral layers, blurring the line between score and sound design to mirror the tremors and turmoil of a disaster on this magnitude.
The emotional expanse of this series is a testament to the incredible team and Tom Hiddleston’s storytelling, spanning fear, grief, and action – and ultimately, the resilient beauty we all still connect to in Pompeii.”
Check out all the episodes of the series starring Tom Hiddleston (which debuted on National Geographic July 22 and is streaming now on Disney+ and Hulu) and get your hands on Aisling’s music however you can. It’s lush, heartfelt, and emotional. For now, enjoy this episode of The GoSeeTalk Podcast Experience!
