ORiGiN Music Signs Global Deal with Johnny Mackay’s Midnight Rainbow

Australian independent music company ORiGiN Music has announced a new global recording and publishing partnership with Midnight Rainbow, the independent label and creative company founded by Children Collide frontman Johnny Mackay.

The agreement will see ORiGiN Recordings work with Midnight Rainbow on selected recordings, while ORiGiN Music Publishing will handle publishing administration for compositions included in the deal.

The partnership covers a range of Mackay's work across film and television scoring, solo music releases and immersive installations, with plans to also support future releases from other artists and collaborators.

Mackay, who is based in New York and also performs under the moniker Lord Fascinator, has spent the past decade building a career spanning music, film, art and experiential projects. His recent screen work includes the original score for Zombucha!, an Australian zombie comedy directed by Claudia Dzienny, which has screened at the Melbourne International Film Festival, London's Raindance Film Festival and Japan's Kanazawa Film Festival. The film is scheduled for an Australian cinema release on November 19th.

He is also currently composing the score for Trampantojo, an upcoming Spanish-language feature starring Arón Piper (Élite), having previously worked on the short film that inspired it. 

Other credits include co-composing the feature film Robots, directed by Anthony Hines and Casper Christensen, alongside Magnus Fiennes. His music has also appeared in television series including Pose, Station 19, Colin From Accounts and Surviving Summer.

ORiGiN COO Craig Redfearn said the partnership brings together Mackay's extensive catalogue and the company's global recording and publishing capabilities. "Johnny is a rare composer who writes like a recording artist and thinks like a production designer," he said.

"Whether it's a feature score, a hotel room or a projection on Customs House, his music has an identity you recognise in a few bars. I first met Johnny some 18 years ago when he was a dirty punk kid launching the band Children Collide, and never dreamed we’d be working together in 2026 with his insanely vast catalogue built over the years."

Mackay first rose to prominence as the founding frontman of Melbourne rock band Children Collide before pursuing solo work as Fascinator, later Lord Fascinator. His solo catalogue includes the albums Water Sign and Lovesongs, with previous releases through Spinning Top Music and Belgian label Eskimo Recordings. He has also collaborated with The Avalanches' Darren Seltmann.

Beyond traditional recording projects, Mackay has developed a number of large-scale installations combining original music with visual art and immersive experiences.

Among them are Cloud Cave, a 3D projection-mapped installation presented at Dark Mofo, and The Fascinator Suite, a room at New York's Carlton Arms Hotel featuring a continuous 24-hour original soundtrack. His work has also featured at Vivid Sydney, where compositions were projected onto Customs House in collaboration with fashion label Romance Was Born.

According to Mackay, the new agreement will allow music created for films and installations to reach audiences beyond their original settings, while opening the door for other composers and filmmakers to release their work through Midnight Rainbow.

“Craig and I have been looking for an excuse to work together again for some time. Meanwhile, the film scores, records and other strange projects kept piling up. Some found homes, while others were left to fend for themselves. Midnight Rainbow started to become a place for the strays," he said. 

“The more films and installations I scored, the more I wanted to give that music a life beyond the screen or outside the room. And not just my own, but the music of other composers and filmmakers too. ORiGiN has the experience and infrastructure to help make that happen, and Craig has known me long enough to have a reasonable idea of what he's getting himself into.”

The first release under the partnership, the Zombucha! soundtrack, arrived on Friday, November 6th, ahead of the film's Australian theatrical release later this month.