The Chemical Brothers’ Tom Rowlands has created a soundtrack for an upcoming drama series about Mussolini. Check it out below.
Titled Mussolini: Son of the Century, the upcoming series will comprise eight episodes and is set to stream on Sky from February 4. Centring on the Italian Fascist dictator, the series has been adapted from the 2018 bestseller written by Antonio Scurati.
Directed by BAFTA winner Joe Wright, it sees Luca Marinelli take on the starring role and is set to provide a depiction of the “political and personal relationships” held by Benito Mussolini.
Ahead of the series being shared, the soundtrack has been released, created by the member of The Chemical Brothers.
Available now via Milan Records, this isn’t the first time that Rowlands has stepped in and created the soundtrack. He did so back in 2011 for the action thriller Hanna, starring Saoirse Ronan and Cate Blanchette, and then again in 2017 for the Life Of Galileo theatre production.
Check out the full soundtrack for Mussolini: Son of the Century below.
In a new statement, Rowlands reflected on his time developing the soundtrack, stating (via DJ Mag): “I really enjoy working with Joe, he’s an incredible director. He is a master of his craft and to bring his vision to life through music is always an exciting challenge.”
He continued: “A lot of this original soundtrack was built around playing old acoustic instruments using modern electronics; working in that way helped me reference the past yet still create something fresh and dynamic.”
The director, Joe Wright, also shared: “What I find really fascinating about Mussolini is that he represents, in my mind, the worst of masculinity. Mussolini dug down into the very worst of himself and used that to gain power”.
The Chemical Brothers – which comprises Rowlands and Ed Simons – shared their most recent studio album back in September 2023 in the form of ‘For That Beautiful Feeling’. It marked their 10th record and went on to win a Grammy in the Best Dance/Electronic Music Album category that same year.
In a four-star review of the record, NME wrote: “With their journey to another realm complete, the hypnotic closing track reinterprets the album’s intro as a calming descent to Earth, its cinematic synths and ominous drums fading out to leave just Halo Maud’s a capella vocal – the post-party comedown after an endlessly exhilarating voyage to an electronic utopia. On their 10th album, The Chemical Brothers remain the best in the business.”
Shortly after that, the duo announced a one-off in conversation event in London to promote their book Paused In Cosmic Reflection. The book is the “definitive story” of the band, published through White Rabbit. It consists of hundreds of hours of interviews about their 30-year career, along with unseen photographs from their archives.
