Hans Zimmer - Dunkirk (Original Soundtrack) [2LP]

Hans Zimmer's Dunkirk score turns time itself into an instrument, a relentless ticking and rising tension that never quite lets go, now on 2LP black vinyl with liner notes by Christopher Nolan.

Christopher Nolan's 2017 film follows the evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk in 1940, and the music is built around that urgency. The script was written to accommodate the auditory illusion of a Shepard tone, which gives the sensation of a pitch endlessly rising, and the ticking is the sound of Nolan's own pocket watch, recorded by the director and sent to Zimmer to be synthesised.

The Mole opens the album with that tightening pulse, Supermarine sends its urgency into the skies, Variation 15 (Dunkirk) reworks Elgar's Nimrod into a slow, aching hymn, and End Titles carries the score out.

Zimmer worked with collaborators including Lorne Balfe and Benjamin Wallfisch to build a score that rarely resolves, trading traditional heroics for dread, endurance and a small, hard-won sense of relief. On vinyl, the long swells and low drones have room to breathe, and the insert with Nolan's liner notes adds context for anyone who wants the story behind the sound. This is a soundtrack designed to be felt in the chest as much as heard.

Tracklist

SIDE A

1. The Mole
2. We Need Our Army Back
3. Shivering Soldier 

Side B

1. Supermarine
2. The Tide
3. Regimental Brothers

Side C

1. Impulse
2. Home
3. The Oil

Side D

1. Variation 15 (Dunkirk)
2. End Titles