Nathan Johnson

Background

He was born in Washington, District of Columbia in 1976 and grew up in Colorado.

Career

After living in England in the mid-2000s, Johnson relocated to the East coast of the United States. where he launched a live touring project with his band, His work with the band opened up doors into film composing and his first musical score was for the award-winning film Brick. The score features traditional instruments such as the piano, trumpet and violin, and also contains unique and invented instruments such as the wine-o-phone, metallophone, treated pianos, filing cabinets, and kitchen utensils. The entire score was recorded in Johnson"s Bournemouth apartment using a single microphone and a PowerBook computer.

The score was hailed by The Chicago Tribune as "perhaps the most arresting soundtrack of the year to date" and Johnson was nominated for the Satellite award for Best Original Score from the International Press Academy.

Johnson finished the score for Rian Johnson"s second film, The Brothers Bloom (2008), expanding the palette used in Brick to include strings and woodwinds for the sound of a "back porch orchestra". In 2012, Johnson composed the score for Rian Johnson"s critically acclaimed third film, Looper.

Through his collaborations with Rian Johnson, Johnson then teamed up with Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who starred in Brick and Looper) to score Gordon-Levitt"s directorial debut Don Jon (2013). In 2014, Johnson composed the score for science fiction action film Young Ones.

After relocating from England in 2005, Johnson brought together many of the original players to create a live touring production.

In the Spring of 2006, toured thirty-five cities in the United States. with its stage production, Annasthesia. Johnson also directed the music video for Katie Chastain"s song "Snowshow". Johnson and Chastain conceived the concept together and almost everything in the video was made by hand, including Katie"s dress.

lieutenant was filmed in a single take in a barn on Martha"s Vineyard with the help of 16 friends and musicians.

Five complete takes were shot and the final video was take number four. Johnson recently announced a new studio collaboration with Chastain titled Faux Fix.

Johnson also contributed to the soundtrack for the PlayStation 4-exclusive video game Infamous Second Son and a stand-alone DLC to the game titled Infamous First Light.

Achievements

• He designed the album cover for How to Save a Life by The Fray as well as their follow up album artwork which was a collaboration with brother and founder of The Made Shop, Marke Johnson. Johnson is the founder of, an art-popular collective that combines storytelling and graphic novel-style artwork with live performance.

Membership

Johnson is also a member of a small design workshop called The Made Shop. Members of have been involved with all of Johnson"s scores.