Dan Mangan and Jesse Zubot's Score for 'Hector and the Search for Happiness' Gets Soundtrack Release

BY Alex HudsonPublished Nov 5, 2014

Dan Mangan has already talked to Exclaim! all about his score for Hector and the Search for Happiness, and now that the Simon Pegg movie has been out for a couple of months, the soundtrack is finally set to come out digitally on Monday (November 10) through Varese Sarabande.

The music here is mostly credited to Mangan and Vancouver violinist/producer Jesse Zubot, with the pair getting credit for 13 of the 19 tracks. Beyond that, Mangan and his band Blacksmith (of which Zubot is a frequent member) are credited for the single "Vessel," while Dan alone is credited for an instrumental version of his Oh Fortune cut "About as Helpful as You Can Be Without Being Any Help at All."

"I did something I've wanted to do for a very long time and that is to have a singer-songwriter score a film," said writer/director Peter Chelsom in a statement. "I think these days they are as much, if not better, melody makers than a lot of composers. Because it's a fable, it needed a strong identity, a 'through line'. I wanted themes that became songs and songs that became themes, rather than the usual film score."

Mangan himself added: "Peter likes music that 'almost isn't there'. He used that term a lot. The kind of crucial but subtle treatment of music to film. He also likes music that keeps a film clipping along so it never feels slow. That seemed to be a lot of our work on the film — keeping it moving but giving credence to the important moments."

There are also a few songs by other artists. See the tracklist below.

Hector and the Search for Happiness (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack):

1. Dan Mangan + Blacksmith - "Vessel (Extended Film Version)"
2. Dan Mangan and Jesse Zubot - "Cumulonimbus"
3. Dan Mangan and Jesse Zubot - "Jude in the Mountains"
4. Dan Mangan - "About as Helpful as You Can Be Without Being Any Help at All (Instrumental Version)"
5. Dan Mangan and Jesse Zubot - "Prayer Flags (Hallucinations)"
6. Dan Mangan and Jesse Zubot - "Cumulonimbus (Newport, '63)"
7. Parov Stelar - "Room Service"
8. Dan Mangan and Jesse Zubot - "Tic Toc"
9. Dan Mangan and Jesse Zubot - "Agnes/Corked"
10. Dan Mangan and Jesse Zubot - "Jude"
11. Dan Mangan and Jesse Zubot - "Cage Rattle"
12. Abraham's Seed - "Serelem"
13. Dan Mangan and Jesse Zubot - "Ticky"
14. Ted Lewis & His Orchestra - "Allah's Holiday"
15. Dan Mangan and Jesse Zubot - "Prayer Flags (Reality)"
16. Dan Mangan and Jesse Zubot - "Terminal"
17. Dan Mangan and Jesse Zubot - "Baresco's Carjack"
18. Dan Mangan and Jesse Zubot - "Jude in the Booth"
19. Abraham's Seed - "Never Loser"

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