Meet award-winning film composer Nathan Matthew David who’s on an epic roll
Emmy-nominated composer for film and television Nathan Matthew David. YOUTUBE
From comic book adaptations to award-winning documentaries, Nathan Matthew David has scored some of the most exciting projects of the last few years.
His dark synth and guitar -work was recently heard on the Russo Brothers’ adaptation of the acclaimed comic book Deadly Class and his emotional and poignant music featured in the powerful and Peabody Award-winning docu-series Surviving R. Kelly. For the latter, he also took home an ASCAP 2020 Screen Award.
Born to Filipino immigrants, David’s family taught him music at a young age. His curiosity would lead him to play in bands and to study film scoring at USC’s prestigious Scoring For Motion Pictures and Television program.
He would go on to be mentored by and collaborate with Oscar-winning composer Ludwig Goransson (Black Panther” and Theodore Shapiro (Bombshell). With the former, he co-composed the A24 film starring Chance The Rapper, Slice.
He is currently writing an album featuring indigenous Filipino instruments, chamber ensemble and electronics.
David made scores for new movie ‘Joy Ride’ (top) and the Stephen Curry documentary ‘Underrated.’ HANDOUTS
Other works included composing the music for the James Cameron produced Gamechangers and the TBS hit comedy, Angie Tribeca from Steve and Nancy Carrell.
David created seamless scores for both the new movie Joy Ride and the new Stephen Curry documentary “Underrated.”
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For Joy Ride, Nathan worked closely with Adele Lim to craft a musical score that was specific to each character and their arc in the bigger story.
He used the Chinese string instruments Guzheng and Ruan alongside guitars and synths to create a band-like sound but with a blend of Asian and Western instruments to help follow the Asian-American leads. The film stars Ashley Park, Sherry Cola, Stephanie Hsu and Sabrina Wu.
Underrated follows the path of NBA legend Stephen Curry as he overcame big odds to become one of the greatest ever. Originally premiering at Sundance, the musical score composed by Nathan is ascendant and transformative as it follows Steph as he finds himself. The documentary is now streaming on Apple TV+.
The USC alumnus and Emmy-nominated composer for film and television has also worked on the Disney+ basketball film Chang Can Dunk this past March and will soon showcase his work on an upcoming Netflix series The Brothers Sun.
