It was bound to happen eventually…
Those of you who know me, know that my creative energies traverse two main paths - drawing, and music. When I run dry of inspiration - or simply need a change of scene in one area - I switch to the other. As long as I’ve always got something boiling away, I won’t go insane.
Enter this latest musical adventure - my own interpretation of possibly the most audaciously brilliant film score in history, that of Blade Runner by Vangelis.
Why have I recorded a Blade Runner album?
The music of Blade Runner has always affected me very deeply. The masterful mystery of what Vangelis did with that music never ceases to amaze and inspire me. Certainly, its influence has permeated just about every musical project I’ve ever written or recorded (most apparent in my Dead City Lullabies score). I’ve never really felt the need to try playing or recording any of Vangelis’ music for myself, but recently I found myself embarking on a sort of archaeological investigation into the sounds and timbres, strange modes and otherworldly melodies that make that iconic score so magical. As an experiment, I decided to see if I could utilise the tools I had at hand to excavate that music a bit, see if I could evoke some of that majestic quality it has.
I never intended to record a version of the soundtrack - but had the idea that I could assemble a kind of amorphous suite of musical improvisations, weaving in some of the familiar melodies to create a tribute to the experience of Vangelis’ Blade Runner. The end-game was to make something that would fit onto a C-60 cassette - so I decided to make four pieces of music, roughly 12-15 minutes each. That would provide ample playing space to explore the performance at a meditative pace.
My deep-dive involved first working out some of the more “accessible” melodies and chord sequences - such as ‘Memories of Green’, ‘Tears In Rain’, ‘Blade Runner Blues’ - and simply enjoy playing them on the piano. From there, I moved to software synths and a more concerted mathematical approach to decode what was going on in those seemingly un-touchable textures and instruments Vangelis used to create his Blade Runner.
What resulted from my weeks of experiments was a deeper understanding of analog and FM synthesis, and more opportunity to really carve out the sounds I wanted, rather than just flying blind tweaking factory presets.
I had actually previously recorded a version of ‘Tears In Rain’ on my Technics SX-K200 analog synthesiser, and I reworked those recordings to present the theme in this suite (you can hear that statement of the theme at the end of the fourth movement ‘Fiery The Angels Fell’. Aside from that piece of hardware, everything else was achieved using an arsenal of VST instruments, including faithful recreations of flagship beasts like the Yamaha CS-80, Synthi VCS-3, CMI Fairlight, Moog Modular, among many others.
What I ended up with is what I think is an immersive 52 minutes of music - presenting Vangelis’ ‘untouchable’ themes re-imagined in my own synthetic environment, and some original compositions and improvisations which I hope compliment and expand on this most revered and remarkable score.
I made sure I included enough recognisable melodies and textures of the original to make it “feel” like Blade Runner, and have sequenced it in a way that reflects my own personal relationship with that film, its characters and music.
This is not to be considered a re-recording of Vangelis’ score, but a tribute - and a conversation between those ethereal, immortal themes and my own musical identity. I feel fortunate that my love for the source material and my willingness to try exploring that musical space has - at least in part - earned me a little deeper glimpse into the heart of what will always be my favourite film and film score.
LISTEN TO BLADE RUNNER (AMBIENT) HERE:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1a5aGLGvTnMr5Wf1U4Of_QycQVAzQyWtk
The files are available to anyone with the link. The music is in wav format, 48k 24 bit. So they’re fairly large files. Do me a favour, and make sure you have an hour’s spare time to turn the lights low and put these into your player of choice - and make sure it’s nice and loud.
Remember - this is a personal work purely for fan appreciation, and is in no way affiliated with the estate of Vangelis, Alcon Entertainment or the Blade Runner brand.
Enjoy.
Aidan, 1 March 2026