Nathan Johnson

As a composer, director, and producer, Nathan Johnson's innovative film scores and hybrid media performances have consistently blurred the lines between stage, screen, music, and narrative. Best known for his unconventional work in film music, Nathan favors modified, organic instrumentation combined with unique approaches to recording and performing.

Beginning with his critically acclaimed work on the neo-noir film Brick, Nathan has made a practice of combining unorthodox audio sources such as tuned wine glasses and found sounds with traditional instrumentation. A similar approach has underpinned much of Nathan’s process, perhaps most strikingly in the vast sonic palette of the Looper score, which he constructed using field recordings of industrial detritus and tuned treadmills to create a hybrid, found-sound orchestra. 

In recent years, Nathan’s film work has shifted to focus almost exclusively on the precise orchestral arrangements featured in his themes for cousin Rian Johnson’s Knives Out films or his darkly unsettling score for Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley.

Nathan continues to compose and produce while directing short films and music videos, many of which employ a painstakingly hand-crafted approach rooted in a bold DIY aesthetic. He has given talks at universities around the world and has presented his work at the Hammer Museum, Adobe MAX, TED, and Apple. Johnson is the recipient of numerous film and music awards, and his work has been featured extensively by NPR, Wired, the AV Club, and Rolling Stone.

He lives in Los Angeles with the help of his friends.