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Robot mother music honoured by screen composers

Diversity rules in musical styles, even between works by the same composer at the 2019 APRA AMCOS screen music awards.

25 Nov 2019

David Tiley

Television

Building the emotional moments in the bleak tale of I am Mother is no mean feat, accomplished by Dan Luscombe and Antony Partos.

The best pleasure of the annual screen composers’ shindig is the orchestra, led by Jessica Wells, who arranges pieces from the nominated shows, so they can be liberated from their production duties and heard for themselves. This year the Consort of Melbourne provided some thrilling deep and ethereal human voice evocations, which seem to be a real feature of this year’s contributions.

The Paul Kelly song that accompanied The Final Quarter was sung by Jess Hitchcock, an Indigenous opera and popular music performer, which was also a lovely touch.

This year the Australian Screen Composers’ Guild farewelled the redoubtable long serving part time executive director, Jo Smith. Her successor Annie Parnell wore her special sparkly dress to the awards for the first time.

Antony Partos ran away with the night because he collaborates, some projects are in several categories and he is very classy.

The current hot issues for the Guild were covered by our interview with President Caitlin Yeo.

How did the awards fall in 2019?

Feature Film Score of the Year
I Am Mother
Composed by Dan Luscombe and Antony Partos

Best Original Song Composed for the Screen
Every Day My Mother’s Voice from The Final Quarter
Composed by Paul Kelly
Published by Sony/ATV Music Publishing

Best Soundtrack Album
Little Monsters
Composed by Piers Burbrook de Vere with songs available on his Soundcloud.

Best Music for a Documentary
Australia’s Lost Impressionist
Composed by David Bridie
Published by Mushroom Music
You can get a sense of the style poking through the narration.

Trailer Australia’s Lost Impressionist: John Russell from Catherine Hunter on Vimeo.

Best Television Theme
Bloom
Composed by Antony Partos
Published by Sonar Music
Clip available on the Sonar Music site.

Best Music for a Television Series or Serial
Bloom
Composed by Jackson Milas and Antony Partos
Published by Sonar Music
Clip available on the Sonar Music site.

Best Music for a Mini-Series or Telemovie
Dead Lucky
Composed by Michael Yezerski

Ice Clock – Music from “Dead Lucky” by Michael Yezerski from Michael Yezerski on Vimeo.

Best Music for a Short Film
For the Girl in the Coffee Shop
Composed by Angela Little
She has been spreading her wings to Hollywood and building steadily.

Best Music for Children’s Television
The Pilgrims Progress Composed by Michael Dooley

Best Music for an Advertisement
Dan Murphy’s
Composed by Adrian Sergovich
Published by Song Zu Publishing

Most Performed Screen Composer – Australia*
Composers Adam Gock and Dinesh Wicks

Most Performed Screen Composer – Overseas*
Composer Neil Sutherland

*Determined by statistical analysis

David Tiley

David Tiley was the Editor of Screenhub from 2005 until he became Content Lead for Film in 2021 with a special interest in policy. He is a writer in screen media with a long career in educational programs, documentary, and government funding, with a side order in script editing. He values curiosity, humour and objectivity in support of Australian visions and the art of storytelling.