You're listening to Song Exploder,
where musicians take apart their songs and piece by piece tell the story of how they were made.
I'm Rishikesh Hirway.
In this episode,
composer Jeff Beal deconstructs the main title theme music to the Netflix original series House of Cards.
The show has been nominated for multiple Emmy Awards,
including Outstanding Original Main Title Theme and Outstanding Music Composition.
The show was adapted from a British series of the same name by writer Bo Williman and director and executive producer David Fincher.
Coming up,
Jeff talks about his collaborative process with Fincher and how they found the mood and musical palette for the show and its theme and how it changed from season one to season two.
By the way, right now you're hearing the season one version.
I interviewed Jeff at his home where he produces every part of the score,
including a 16-piece orchestra that he records in his cavernous living room.
A brief word of warning, if you haven't watched the first season,
there's a spoiler about how that season ends.
And now, here's the main title theme to House of Cards on Song Exploder.
I'm Jeff Beal, composer.
I do the music for House of Cards.
I had worked with David Fincher on a commercial probably about six or seven years ago.
And this was around the time I had been working on Rome, a series for HBO.