The Music of the Spheres: On Jóhann Jóhannsson's "Last and First Men"

Jóhann Jóhannsson was one of contemporary cinema's greatest score composers when he passed away in 2018 at the young age of 48. Last and First Men, his enigmatic directorial debut, was released shortly after in 2020. Based on a novel by the same name by the British science fiction writer Olaf Stapleton, the film offers a sustained meditation on the prospect of extinction, the eventuality of humanity's disappearance from the comos. In this episode, JF and Phil discuss the images and sounds of the film as they flicker and swell against the backdrop of nonbeing that envelops us all. The conversation touches on the idea of beauty, Brutalist architecture, modernism, and futurity. Preorder Pierre-Yves Martel's album Mer bleue (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com/album/mer-bleue). Support us on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/weirdstudies) and gain access to Phil's ongoing podcast on Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle. Listen to volume 1 (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com/album/weird-studies-music-from-the-podcast-vol-1) and volume 2 (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com/album/weird-studies-music-from-the-podcast-vol-2) of the Weird Studies soundtrack by Pierre-Yves Martel (https://www.pymartel.com) Find us on Discord (https://discord.com/invite/Jw22CHfGwp) Get the T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau (https://cottonbureau.com/products/can-o-content#/13435958/tee-men-standard-tee-vintage-black-tri-blend-s)! Get your Weird Studies merchandise (https://www.redbubble.com/people/Weird-Studies/shop?asc=u) (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/shop/weirdstudies) REFERENCES Jóhann Jóhannsson, Last and First Men (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8015444/) Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unfrozen_Caveman_Lawyer), SNL character Spomeniks (https://www.spomenikdatabase.org/what-are-spomeniks), Yugoslavian monuments Olaf Stapleton, The Last and First Men (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9781604443578) Woody Allen, Hannah and Her Sisters (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091167/) The Last of Us (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3581920/), television show Ray Brassier, [Nihil Unbound: Enlightenment and Extinction](https://books.google.com/books/about/NihilUnbound.html?id=zN7WAAAAMAAJ&source=kpbookdescription)_ Weird Studies, Episode 2 on Garmonbozia (https://www.weirdstudies.com/2) Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Nobel Prize Speech (https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1970/solzhenitsyn/lecture/) Weird Studies Episode 139 on Art Power (https://www.weirdstudies.com/139) Numenius (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/numenius/), Platonist philosopher Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, What is Philosophy? (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780231079891) Jia Tolentino, “The Overwhelming Emotion of Hearing Toto’s “Africa” (https://www.newyorker.com/culture/rabbit-holes/the-overwhelming-emotion-of-hearing-totos-africa-remixed-to-sound-like-its-playing-in-an-empty-mall) Weird Studies, Episode 110 on “The Glass Bead Game” (https://www.weirdstudies.com/110) D. H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley’s Lover (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780141192482)