Feeling the Music of ‘Forgotten Island’ with Composer Nathan Matthew David

For those of you who have seen Forgotten Island — first off, you now know how incredible of a movie it is! And second of all, you likely noticed it has a really terrific soundtrack. In addition to a beautifully curated collection of good pop music, the score is absolutely top notch, thanks to composer Nathan Matthew David! We had an opportunity to sit down with David to discuss how he brought the Filipino culture to the score of Forgotten Island!

David has been in the industry for a long time, going back to 2006. He has had a versatile career scoring for both big films, small films, live action, and even documentary. As a Filipino-American, born to Filipino immigrant parents, he has made a career in promoting and composing for high profile AAPI projects like the hilarious and underrated comedy Joy Ride, and smaller AAPI projects like Chang Can Dunk.

However, given that Forgotten Island is really one of the few big-budget studio films to embrace Filipino culture and mythology, it was important for David to connect with his heritage for this project. And so he worked hard and did extensive research, traveling back to the Philippines, to figure out a way to blend together the sounds of traditional Filipino folk music with his own affinity for modern day synth pop and 90s/00s flair. The result was something both extraordinary, emotional, and rich with pride and passion for Filipino culture.

Here’s everything David had to say about perfecting the sound of Forgotten Island.

Forgotten Island is now playing in theaters. And you can hear David’s excellent soundtrack in every frame of this movie, driving joy and emotion.

This is really a special film, everyone. And I implore you all to go out there and check it out, so studios can see that we, as moviegoers, want original films, and want stories from different cultures told. We saw audiences rally for excellent films like Black Panther, Coco, Encanto, and many others. It would be absolutely incredible to see the same love and support for a film like Forgotten Island — which is just as good as, if not better than, many other movies out in theaters right now.