Exclusive

‘Sinners’ composer Ludwig Göransson breaks down his movie soundtrack

13 May 2025, 17:22 | Updated: 13 May 2025, 17:24

Ludwig Göransson breaks down his 'Sinners' soundtrack | Classic FM

By Classic FM

Music lives at the heart of ‘Sinners’, a box office sensation starring Michael B. Jordan which successfully straddles the musical and horror genres. We asked the film’s Oscar-winning composer to break down his decisions.

Loading audio...

Ludwig Göransson is a film composer best known for his Oscar-winning scores to Black Panther and Oppenheimer, and most recently his bluegrass-infused score for Sinners, which recently became the first horror film in the history of CinemaScore to receive a perfect A rating.

The Swedish-born musician uses music in the film as a spiritual force, to tell the stories of our past and be a voice for the voiceless. Göransson came to Classic FM with his 1932 Dobro guitar, on which he wrote most of his latest film score, to break down the music...

How did Ludwig Göransson write the ‘Sinners’ score?

Göransson wrote most of the Sinners score on a 1932 Dobro guitar, the same instrument that’s played in the movie by preacher boy Sammy, a plantation worker whose real passion is playing the guitar. It’s one of three Dobros that the composer found in the world – one in London, one in Nashville, and one in Los Angeles.

The Dobro’s defining feature is its huge silver resonator, that sits behind the strings and acts as a primitive version of a modern-day amplifier. “It helps the guitar to sing out a bit more… and as a little natural distortion”, Göransson explains.

Getting the guitar to “sing” was central to his musical process. The composer also used a slide, a cylindrical metal device similar in shape to a glass bottleneck – which would have been used by guitarists in the days before health and safety – to add a voice-like quality to the sound.

“You can slide in between the notes almost like you’re singing,” Göransson explains.

Ludwig Göransson composed most of the 'Sinners' score on an acoustic guitar. Picture: Classic FM

What is Ludwig Göransson’s musical background?

Ludwig grew up surrounded by music, starting guitar lessons with his father aged six years old.

“When I was eight or nine, I heard ‘Enter Sandman’ for the first time by Metallica,” Göransson recalls. “That’s when I got really passionate about music, and it was my own thing. My dad was into the blues, and I was into heavy metal.”

The composer later discovered the origins of the blues, as the backbone of many of today’s popular music genres. “And at that age I didn’t even understand that all music, even heavy metal, comes from the blues,” Göransson says. “And it’s something I think came out in the score. For me, it’s a very personal score.”

Göransson used his own journey of musical discovery to shape the score. “It starts mostly acoustically,” he says, “And then as the stories develops, it transitions into heavy metal and orchestra and strings, and big drums.”

As the story progresses, Göransson introduces the sounds of string instruments, an orchestra and an electric guitar to create an environment of danger and unease.

Ludwig Göransson attends the European Premiere of 'Sinners' in London. Picture: Alamy

What’s the music in the surreal ‘music montage’ scene in Sinners?

In the middle of the movie, there’s a striking, surreal music montage scene that weaves together a wealth of musical history, including traditional African music, the blues, funk, jazz, and hip-hop. It starts with a performance and then goes into all different music genres, in a surreal dreamy state on a 1930s dancefloor.

“When I read it in the script I got goosebumps because it’s such an out-of-body experience,” Göransson says.

He brought in American singer-songwriter Raphael Saadiq, considered one of the great R&B music producers, to write the song. “It was a dream of mine to work with him,” Göransson says. “And he had this idea for a blues song his whole life.”

The scene is a very complicated iMax shot, which scans through all the musicians in the room. “I was DJing on the spot while they were shooting the scene,” the composer recalls. “It was extremely complicated, and it took about two months to plan that whole scene out.”