Gizmodo has a profile of Maggie Phillips, the music supervisor behind such shows as Our Flag Means Death, Shining Girls, The Handmaid's Tale, Legion, The Umbrella Academy, and a slew of others where you've probably taken note of how perfect the music is for the moment.
Take this ending scene from episode 8 of Our Flag Means Death 9 (spoilers!).
But as for Our Flag Means Death? "Nobody's asked about the music yet. It's such a weird tone, dramatic and a little understated." Phillips isn't wrong. The first episode ends with a track that most people have never heard before, "High on a Rocky Ledge" by Moondog. At least, I'd never heard it before. But I was immediately taken in. "I was thrilled to place Moondog in the first episode," Phillips said. "We went for a subtlety for a lot of these songs. That's the thing about David [Jenkins, the director], he's so collaborative and he really trusted me with the music. He really let me do what I wanted, and he pushed me to go weird."
When you're making a workplace comedy-turned historical romance show about a boatful of queer pirates set in Caribbean in the 1700s, I feel like you have to have that kind of balls-to-the-wall attitude with your work. When you have a premise like this, you have to make sure everything works, that every part of the show is tightly stitched at every seam. Character arcs, casting, stories, jokes, and swashbuckling, all have to exist alongside emotional catharsis. And, of course, the music.
Read the rest here.
