Graham Reynolds

Graham Reynolds is an Austin legend. Born in Frankfurt, Germany, grew up in America’s northeast, and then he relocated to Texas and became part of the furniture as half of the Golden Hornet, man handling punk’s DIY ethic into classical music. He tumbled into movie soundtracks, theatre pieces, and became renowned for an annual re-imagining of festivities with the live extravaganza Graham Reynolds Ruins The Holidays.

Called “the quintessential modern composer” by the London Independent, Austin-based Graham Reynolds is anything but your stereotypical composer, more a fully qualified mad scientist of music and creative blur (he once smashed up a piano in the desert).

Yet he is also Richard Linklater’s (‘Slacker’, ‘Dazed and Confused’, ‘School of Rock’) go-to guy, who said of Reynolds’ ability to score any scene that “he can do anything”. Reynolds has scored films such as ‘Before Midnight’, ‘Bernie’ and ‘A Scanner Darkly’, which was released on vinyl for the first time on Fire in 2017.

Since then, Graham has re-focused his talents yet again, beginning with an EP, ‘Music For Prophet Parts 1-4’. Following a limited release in early 2024, Graham Reynolds is set to release his debut solo album ‘Mountain’ on March 21^st 2025.

A socio-geographic trip along the Sierra in your mind, ‘Mountain’ is America writ large, a soundscape for a big country, a place you can wander adrift, much like the main character in the 1945 Billy Wilder film The Lost Weekend, starring Ray Milland, that’s central to the track of the same name, a theme that’s expanded with classical grandeur and much melancholy, much later on the gorgeous ‘Lost Weekend (Revisited)’ that almost acts as a companion piece to some of Graham’s more familiar film work.

Composed and performed by Graham Reynolds, with contributions from his rotating cast of musical compadres, the album was produced and mixed by mysterious English duo Peter Talisman. There are surprises throughout the album as Austin neighbour Jad Fair (Half Japanese) pops up with backing vocals along with Italian chanteuse Marta del Grandi.

“This album is personal. It starts with Monadnock, the first mountain I ever climbed, up in New England. The first side ends with Enchanted Rock, the first mountain I climbed in my adopted state of Texas. And, though I’ve been releasing music for my whole adult life, this is the first time I’ve had real label support for something of my own, unattached to a film or other media. So, in a way, oddly, it’s my first real solo album” Graham Reynolds.

Graham’s performances and appearances include SXSW, Austin City Limits, Sundance Film Festival, Flatpack Film Festival, EartH Theatre  (London), Lincoln Center Thater and The Kennedy Center.

Released on Fire Records and available as part of the Weird Walk Record Cult series, ‘The Portcullis’ sees composer Graham Reynolds investigate his lineage and name back to Launceston Castle. This is the soundtrack to an imagined world that nods to RPG and fantasy culture without leaning on it, keeping the tone medieval, minimal, and atmospheric.

THE PORTCULLIS draws on dungeon-synth textures, medieval ambience, and the imaginative pull of folklore. Rather than recreating the past, it opens a threshold into a world slightly outside time. At its centre is a simple question – what lies behind the portcullis? – taking the listener on a focused journey through shifting eras, symbols, and atmospheres. It plays like a lost fantasy soundtrack, inviting the listener into an adventure that feels both ancient and newly invented.

“A fantastic player that adds a muscular edge to the rich tones he pulls out of his instrument… capable of stretching all manner of sonic boundaries” Jazz Times

“For director Richard Linklater alone, Reynolds has been heartsick and wistful (Before Midnight), tense and suspenseful (A Scanner Darkly), jaunty and blithe (Bernie)…” Texas Monthly

“A rare talent” Pop Matters