I have this habit of having movies or TV shows playing on my computer or in the background while I work. Since I’ve seen most of them dozens of times before (otherwise, it’s distracting), I end up listening to them more than watching. Late last night I had M:I:III on in the background and heard a violin phrase I knew I’d heard before. Quick thought later and I realized that the music was very similar to Lost. JJ Abrams directed M:I:III, so I started wondering if he had a favorite composer he brought along with him from project to project. Quick Google later and I find that the composer is Michael Giacchino and that I do indeed like a lot of his work:

In 2001, J.J. Abrams, producer of the television series Alias, discovered Giacchino through his work on the video games and tapped Giacchino to provide the new show’s soundtrack.[8] The soundtrack featured a mix of full orchestral pieces, often mixed with upbeat electronic music, a departure from much of his previous work. Giacchino would also provide the score for J.J. Abrams’s next project, the 2004 television series, Lost[9], which was an acclaimed soundtrack that used a unique process of using spare pieces of a plane fuselage for the percussions. His score for Lost is notable for a signature thematic motif - a brass fall-off at the end of certain themes.[10] In 2004, Giacchino was given his first big feature film composition, when he was called on to provide the soundtrack for the Pixar film, The Incredibles.[11] Director Brad Bird had heard Giacchino’s work on Alias and asked him to work on the soundtrack for the new movie. The upbeat jazz orchestral sound was a departure in sound not only for Giacchino but for Pixar, who had previously relied on the works of Randy and Thomas Newman for all of their previous films. Brad Bird had originally sought out John Barry, who was best known for composing many of the early James Bond movie soundtracks, to compose the music, but was reportedly unwilling to write music for an animated movie. Giacchino was nominated for two Grammy Awards in 2005 for his work The Incredibles: Best Score Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media and Best Instrumental Composition.[12] Giacchino also composed scores for the 2005 films, Sky High and The Family Stone, and the television movie, The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz. In addition, he wrote the music for Joseph Barbera’s final theatrical Tom and Jerry cartoon: The KarateGuard, premiering in Los Angeles theatres on September 27, 2005. Giacchino also composed the score for the movie Mission: Impossible III, directed by J.J. Abrams, which was released on May 5, 2006.[13] Giacchino’s latest musical achievement is his Paris-inspired score for the newest Disney-Pixar film, Ratatouille, which includes the theme song, Le Festin performed by French artist Camille. He has received his first Academy Award nomination for this score.

As of late, Giacchino appears to be deepening his collaboration with JJ Abrams, as he wrote an homage to Japanese monster scores in an overture entitled “ROAR!” which played over the credits of the Abrams produced monster movie Cloverfield. It was the only original music for the entire film. Giacchino is scheduled to score Abrams’s upcoming Star Trek film as well.

His work is good, and I’ve even played some of the video games he’s scored prior to hooking up with Abrams. You can find his stuff on Amazon if you’re interested in hearing clips. The M:I:III soundtrack is pretty good.