Did you think that the small Icelandic town of Glerársandur was safe now? Well, think again.
When we finished work on Season one of Black Sands, we didn’t know if we we would get to return to our little (fictional) town of Glerársandur again. Season one did really have a strong and decisive ending, but there were threads of unanswered questions, and a story arc that could easily carry another season already existed. We could answer some old questions and ask some good new ones, should the occasion rise.
Happily, it did. Season one hit a global worldwide audience and people wanted more. So when we got the news that we would be coming back to the series, I started composing themes for new characters and situations as soon as I got rough scripts to work from.
This time, instead of directing all the episodes himself as in season one, director Baldvin Z took on the role of showrunner for the season, directed 4 episodes himself, and handed 2 episodes each to young and super talented directors Álfheiður Marta and Erlendur Sveinsson.
We immediatly knew we were going to need lots of new music. Of course there were returning themes, as all of the music in season one was character based, but they would all have to be reworked to fit new and very changed circumstances in the story.
The sonic world of the series was already established and we didn’t want to stray very far from that, but we were free to add instruments and elements with new plot revelations and character themes.
So long before the first shots were put together by editor Úlfur Teitur Traustason, approximately 100 minutes of new music was ready to start off the editing work without him ever having to reach out for other music than the score itself.
As before we planted subtle musical hints around the episodes. I rearranged themes of characters that were no longer with us in scenes where we thought their presence should be felt (I’ll try to keep everything spoiler free here). Sometimes in the form of a short theme reoccurences and sometimes deliberately using instrumentation that belonged to specific characters.
A very important part of the soundtrack journey is always going to be the final mixing stage of the series. When we finished season one, we were in the middle of a global pandemic, so travel to Belgium where Pedro Van Der Eecken and his team at The Image & Sound Factory do their magic was not practical. We hooked up remotely and kept our distances. But this time I had the luxury and the pleasure of being present during the final mix along with Baldvin and Úlfur. Yes, we have all the remote technology in the world, but working together in real life is always going to be the best way for humans to collaborate.
Black Sands Season 2 was produced by Glassriver for Channel 2 Iceland, All3Media, Lunanime and VRT. Album artwork as well as series key art was designed by Sævar Jóhannesson at Digimax.
Hopefully it will be available to you, wherever you live, soon. In the meantime, here is a trailer of what is coming your way:
And finally, here is the soundtrack album, it's available on all streaming platforms. Please enjoy responsibly.