Varèse Sarabande Announces the 25th Anniversary Edition Release of The Matrix Score

Varèse Sarabande and Craft Recordings are thrilled to announce a 25th anniversary edition of Don Davis’ iconic score to The Matrix. Due out November 15th and available for pre-order today on LP, CD, and digital formats, The Matrix (Original Motion Picture Score) features an expanded 18-song tracklist curated by Davis himself from key tracks previously only available on the complete edition of the score, and brand-new artwork by acclaimed illustrator Yuko Shimizu.

In addition to CD and digital, fans can find the album on several exclusive vinyl colorways including “Cyber Swirl Green” on VarèseSarabande.com, while a “Blue Pill” pressing will be available via Barnes & Noble. International Matrix fans will be treated to a “Red Pill” edition. Each version features brand-new anime-inspired illustrations by artist Shimizu, depicting two of the iconic bullet-time moments from the film. All formats and variants are available to order/pre-save here.

The Matrix, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving and Joe Pantoliano opened to widespread acclaim from critics, who praised the film’s innovative visual effects, action sequences, cinematography and screenplay. The film was a box office success, grossing over $460 million on a $63 million budget, becoming the highest-grossing Warner Bros. film of 1999 and the fourth highest-grossing film of that year. The film received nominations at the 72nd Academy Awards® for Best Visual Effects, Best Film Editing, Best Sound and Best Sound Editing, winning all four categories.

As FilmTracks pointed out in their review, “It was a project that Davis referred to as a dream assignment, for it allowed him, as he stated, to rely more heavily on the ‘postmodern works that are being done now on the concert stage.” Davis looked towards the experimental music community making waves in the late 1990s to find inspiration, as opposed to creating something to fit into the traditional film score canon. The end result is a score that remains one of the most unique soundtracks in modern filmmaking.

Davis’ score needed to work on two levels: to help support the film and to highlight the sheer complexity of the images on the screen. It’s the rare musical accompaniment that needs to be affecting at times and purely secondary at others—while still being entertaining as a standalone piece of art. As Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote in his AllMusic review, “There are long quiet stretches that are quite eerie, even without the film to support the music, and he employs dissonance and quick, powerful staccatos quite effectively. And when he turns to grand, sweeping themes, it’s hard not to get caught up in the momentum of the piece.”

In a recently unearthed interview that Davis conducted on the 20th Century Fox Scoring Stage while recording The Matrix for Soundtrack Magazine, Davis spoke about the ideas that would eventually make the film score one of the most celebrated in film history. In the 1999 conversation, he explained: “The biggest challenge was one of approach. When you’re dealing with a film that’s as ground­breaking as this, you can’t accept the tried and true, and taking a post­modern idea and making it into a film score doesn’t mean that you can’t write music that doesn’t function as a film score.” As such, Davis had to balance an avant-garde approach with one that would suit the film, that wouldn’t distract from the mind-boggling images and knotty narrative.

“There are still things that it has to do, it has to play the tension, it has to add energy to the chases and the fights. I had to be pretty judicious about where I was applying a technique,” he added. In The Matrixscore, Don Davis has created a world within one of the most expansive universes to ever grace the cinematic language. Despite the grand nature of the film he was scoring, Davis managed to make a body of work that both accents the movie and stands on its own. Twenty-five years later, that statement is, remarkably, truer than ever before.

Click here to pre-order or stream/download the 25th anniversary edition of The Matrix Score.

Tracklist (Vinyl):

 Side A

  1. Main Title (from The Matrix) / Trinity Infinity
  2. Unable To Speak
  3. Switched For Life*
  4. Switched At Birth*
  5. Switches Brew*
  6. Nascent Nauseous Neo*
  7. A Morpheus Movement*
  8. Domo Showdown*
  9. Bring Me Dinner*
  10. The System

Side B

  1. The Hotel Ambush
  2. Ignorance Is Bliss / Cyber Cyphernetic*
  3. Exit Mr. Hat
  4. The Cure*
  5. The Lobby*
  6. Dodge This*
  7. Ontological Shock
  8. He’s The One Alright*

* Previously only available on The Complete Score

Tracklist (CD):

  1. Main Title (from The Matrix) / Trinity Infinity
  2. Unable To Speak
  3. Switched For Life*
  4. Switched At Birth*
  5. Switches Brew*
  6. Nascent Nauseous Neo*
  7. A Morpheus Movement*
  8. Domo Showdown*
  9. Bring Me Dinner*
  10. The System
  11. The Hotel Ambush
  12. Ignorance Is Bliss / Cyber Cyphernetic*
  13. Exit Mr. Hat
  14. The Cure*
  15. The Lobby*
  16. Dodge This*
  17. Ontological Shock
  18. He’s The One Alright*

* Previously only available on The Complete Score

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