Listen to Jonny Greenwood’s stunning Phantom Thread score

There are many reasons why we’re looking forward to the release of Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film Phantom Thread, but chief among them is the opportunity to envelop ourselves in the film’s music by Anderson’s prefered composer, Jonny Greenwood. This is the Radiohead multi-instrumentalist’s fourth score for Anderson, following compositions for There Will Be Blood, The Master and Inherent Vice, and it won him his first Golden Globe at the weekend. We can assume Greenwood's name will also feature on the Best Score Oscar nominations when they are announced at the end of the month.

Set in 1950s London, the film follows celebrated fashion designer Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis) and the relationship he begins with his model and muse, played by Vicky Krieps. Greenwood recalls the initial phonecall he had about with Anderson about the score. “We talked a lot about ‘50s music, what was popularly heard then as well as what was being written and recorded,” Greenwood told Variety. “Nelson Riddle and Glenn Gould’s Bach recordings were the main references. I was interested in the kind of jazz records that toyed with incorporating big string sections, Ben Webster made some good ones, and focus on what the strings were doing rather than the jazz musicians themselves.”

The score was created with a huge 60-piece string ensemble, but it's not without its more intimate moments too. “The smaller groups, and solo players, work like close-ups – not necessarily to accompany [a] visual, but rather, to focus your attention on and make you feel directly engaged with the characters,” Greenwood explained to Variety. “The bigger orchestral things often worked best for drawing you back to see the bigger situation.”

You can listen to Greenwood’s suitably sumptuous and romantic Phantom Thread soundtrack below via Spotify. The album is released on CD 9 Feb, with the vinyl out 21 Apr