Of the 18 Emmy nominations for Apple TV‘s Pluribus, composer Dave Porter can call dibs on three of ’em: for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series, Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour), and Original Main Title Theme Music.
It’s a sweet moment for Porter, for after his 18-year collaboration with series creator Vince Gilligan on Breaking Bad, spinoff Better Call Saul and now Pluribus, the Television Academy has finally recognized his nuanced sound, which always pushes the boundary of not only score but also story.
We talk with the duo on the latest episode of Deadline’s Crew Call podcast about their roots together, their shorthand and philosophy on scoring, and how that 20-second, New Age, harmonized choral main title theme (or “ear wig,” as Gilligan calls it) came about. In that short time span, the music sets the table for the show’s trippy dystopian future where a woman is one of a few untouched survivors in a world where an extraterrestrial virus has turned the majority of Earth’s denizens into peaceful, hive-minded people. It’s no wonder that Porter started his professional career as an assistant to three-time Oscar-nominated minimalist film composer Philip Glass.
Explains Porter about the melodic, two-part main title performed by Kenya Hathaway: “We’re presenting two sides of this argument. That’s the most interesting part of this show, is all the dichotomies that Vince has created here, and all the ways that we’re hopefully making our audience think and not take a side.”
The composer adds, “We love to leave that ambiguity in there if we possibly can, because we want our audience to come to their own conclusions about this amazing world that Vince and our writers have created.”
“These two vocal parts: sometimes they’re harmonious, sometimes they’re rubbing against each other in a discordant way, and they don’t seem to fit. And then ultimately, we’re leaving our audience there a little bit unsettled, but curious and hopefully humming a little too.”
Says Gilligan about Porter: “[He asks], ‘How do you want the audience to feel? What’s the emotion you’re looking for?’ He always boils it down to that for me. And even then, which I always appreciate, he’s always throwing me a life preserver.”
Below is our conversation; listen through to the end as Gilligan speculates how long he sees Pluribus lasting.
