Hrishikesh Hirway Details COMPANION Film Score Album
Listen to a new single from the album, featuring vocals from Sophie Thatcher.
By: Josh Sharpe Jan. 17, 2025
Hrishikesh Hirway, acclaimed musician and the creator of the award-winning podcast Song Exploder, will release his original score album for the forthcoming film Companion on January 24 through WaterTower Music in advance of the film’s international release on January 28 and US release on January 31. The album will receive a limited color vinyl release with artwork by Greg Ruth via Made By Mutant—preorder will be available beginning January 24.
Ahead of the score album, Hirway has shared a single, “Iris’s Theme,” featuring vocals from Sophie Thatcher, (Yellowjackets, The Boogeyman), who stars in the film.
Written and directed by Drew Hancock, (My Dead Ex, Suburgatory), Companion also stars Jack Quaid (The Boys, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse), Lukas Gage (Smile 2, Dead Boy Detectives), Megan Suri (Never Have I Ever, It Lives Inside), Harvey Guillén (What We Do in the Shadows, Blue Beetle), and Rupert Friend (High Desert, Asteroid City).
Mid-2023, in the early stages of the film’s development, Hancock tapped close friend Hirway to begin drafting a score from the script. As a composer, Hirway has previously written and recorded original scores for the Netflix series Everything Sucks!, the film Save the Date, the CNN documentary Our Nixon, the video game The Red Lantern, and the theme for ESPN’s 30 for 30 podcast.
When initially composing “Iris’s Theme,” with a female singer in mind, Hirway demoed a vocal himself, artificially pitching his voice up—Hear the initial demo here. The final track with Sophie Thatcher was recorded in Spring 2024 at Los Angeles’ famed East West Studios with a 12-piece string ensemble. Reflecting on a moment in the film involving digitally altering one’s voice, Hirway left a subtle layer of his own pitch-shifted voice underneath Thatcher’s.
Hirway shares, “Drew and I listened to scores from the ‘60s, like Breakfast at Tiffany’s and The Laughing Woman. I was especially inspired by Sophie Thatcher’s performance in the footage I got to watch before the film finished shooting, and in that time, I wrote Iris’s Theme. And then, Drew told me that Sophie happened to be a singer herself. I thought of how powerful the theme to Rosemary’s Baby is because it features Mia Farrow’s own vocals, and knew we had to have Sophie record the melody.”
Companion, at its core, is a relationship story, revealed across the album’s 17 tracks; despite some of the film’s sci-fi themes, the soundtrack strives for timelessness. Hirway reflects, “Companion was an incredible experience. I finally got the chance to work with my old friend. The script had made me laugh and gasp and thrill on my very first reading, and the performances and production lived up to the promise on the page. It feels unbelievable to me that I got to contribute to a film I would have absolutely loved, just as a fan.”
ABOUT HRISHIKESH HIRWAY
Hrishikesh Hirway has been producing music for over two decades; his most recent EP, Rooms I Used to Call My Own was released in March 2022. His music career first began in the early 2000s with his solo project The One AM Radio, and later with MOORS, a collaboration with actor and rapper Lakeith Stanfield. He’s the host, creator, and executive producer of Song Exploder, an award-winning podcast and a Netflix original television series, where musicians break down the creative process behind their songs.
Hirway additionally produced and co-hosted the award-winning podcasts Home Cooking, with chef and author Samin Nosrat; and The West Wing Weekly, with actor Joshua Malina.
Fast Company named Hirway one of 2021’s Most Creative People in Business, and Adweek named him one of 2022’s Creative 100, as an “innovator reshaping the media landscape.” He served the Library of Congress as an advisor on digital strategy.
Photo courtesy of Sacks & Co
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