In early 2003, a young writer/director contacted Explosions In The Sky requesting permission to use one of their songs in his second film, All the Real Girls. The filmmaker was Texas native David Gordon Green, and their music was a perfect companion to the elegiac score from fellow Texas composer, David Wingo. That would be the first-ever film license for Explosions In The Sky.

Fast-forward a decade: the band’s music has become an integral part of countless film and television programs (most notably Friday Night Lights and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly); Green is an internationally renowned, impressively eclectic filmmaker (Pineapple Express, Snow Angels); and Wingo is a highly acclaimed film composer (Mud, Take Shelter) and leader of acclaimed indie-rock group, Ola Podrida. They’ve all become very close friends, and that tight-knit friendship spawned Green’s stirring new film, Prince Avalanche. While watching the Super Bowl together, EITS drummer Chris Hrasky casually suggested that Green use the scorched landscape of Bastrop State Park in Bastrop, TX as the backdrop for a film. Green took the suggestion and ran with it, remaking the Icelandic indie comedy Either Way into an understated dramatic comedy starring Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch. In keeping with the low-key, under-the-Hollywood-radar nature of the film, Green tapped Explosions In The Sky and David Wingo to score the film. In the spirit of the filmmaking process, the soundtrack to Prince Avalanche is a casual affair, an earnest collaboration amongst friends recorded entirely in the living rooms of its composers. Much like the film, the soundtrack stitches dozens of tiny moments of heartfelt brilliance into an emotionally resonant whole far more expansive than its intimate roots might imply.

Explosions In The Sky excel at making even the most mundane moments in everyday life seem downright revelatory. David Wingo and David Gordon Green have made careers out of pulling off similar feats in film. It was only a matter of time before these guys all collaborated, and Prince Avalanche delivers on the inspired expectations of such a union.