Interview: Tony composer Jay McCarrol talks finding Anthony Bourdain before he found himself

Written by: Peter Gray | The AU Review
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For composer Jay McCarrol, that meant resisting the temptation to musically foreshadow the larger-than-life figure waiting in Bourdain’s future. Instead, his score stays firmly inside the uncertainty, anger and darkness of the young man in front of us – the “first rumblings” of a storm still to come. Built from low upright piano, accordion, harmonium and textures that evoke “rust and worn wood,” McCarrol’s maritime-inflected score provides an intimate counterpoint to the film’s raucous humour and energetic needle drops.

Speaking with our Peter Gray, McCarrol discussed finding the musical language of a Bourdain who had yet to find his own voice, scoring the sudden optimism of a life-changing summer, and how years of friendship with Johnson have created a creative shorthand between director and composer.