Behind last night’s wins by Paul Kelly, Dan Luscombe & David Bridie at the 2019 Screen Music Awards

Paul Kelly, Dan Luscombe and David Bridie continued the tradition of songwriters and composers, with strong rock credentials, to perform well as screen music composers.

They had major wins at the 2019 Screen Music Awards held last night (November 20) at the Forum in Melbourne.

In the case of Kelly and Bridie, they used their skills to bring alive two stand-out Australian identities.

Kelly’s ‘Every Day My Mother’s Voice’ (Sony/ATV Music Publishing) won Best Original Song Composed for the Screen.

It was written for The Final Quarter, about the twilight of the AFL playing career of First Nation identity and Australian of the Year Adam Goodes and his relationship with his mother Lisa-May Sansbury.

Forcibly removed from her family as a child and dedicated her life to raising her own children to be high achievers, Sansbury’s approach to life was why Goodes refused to look the other way when racial insults were hurled at him.

Director and producer Ian Darling told Music Feeds, “I’ve always loved the way Paul writes ballads and when I asked him to write a new song for Adam, I knew he would do it in his own original way.

“Paul saw a rough cut of the film and then a few weeks later this classic song arrived. “[It] reminds us of all mothers and children.

“Paul wrote the song specifically with Dan Sultan in mind to perform it with him, which made it even more perfect.”

Performing ‘Every Day My Mother’s Voice’ last night were Ashley Naylor (from Paul Kelly’s band and Even) and Melbourne singer-songwriter Jessica Hitchcock.

Dan Luscombe performing

The Feature Film Score of the Year was awarded to co-composers Luscombe and Antony Partos for their work on Grant Sputore’s science fiction thriller I Am Mother.

It follows Daughter, a girl in a post-apocalyptic bunker raised by an android called Mother.

Luscombe is a guitarist and composer whose bands included The Blackeyed Susans, The Drones, Dan Kelly and the Alpha Males, Stardust Five and Paul Kelly and the Boon Companions, as well as playing on the road with Courtney Barnett and Marlon Williams.

Talking about his eerie scores of eeriness, alienation and terror, he told ScoreIt he was a big fan of the band Suicide, and Alan Vega and Martin Rev‘s solo work.

“The song ‘Frankie Teardrop” from Suicide’s debut eponymous album (1977) was a pivotal point in my musical life.

“This song was played to me for the first time in 1995, and I’d never been as frightened by a piece of music before and haven’t since.”

David Bridie performing / Photographer: L.J.Spruyt Photography

The Mushroom Music-signed Bridie won Best Music for a Documentary for Australia’s Lost Impressionist.

It was about John Russell (1858-1930) who lived and worked in France, alongside Claude Monet, mentored Henri Matisse and was a close friend of Vincent Van Gogh.

The documentary follows how a younger generation of Australian painters discover him, and in particular the way he changed attitudes to colour.

Bridie’s skills with atmospherics come into play in the footage shot by director Catherine Hunter and cameraman Bruce Inglis of Belle-Ile, the grey windswept island off Brittany where Russell lived for 20 years and declared a major inspiration of his work.

More Winners from the 2019 Screen Music Awards

Best Soundtrack Album

Little Monsters by Piers Burbrook de Vere

Best Television Theme

Bloom by Antony Partos, Sonar Music

Best Music for a Television Series or Serial

Bloom by Jackson Milas and Antony Partos, Sonar Music

Best Music for a Mini-Series or Telemovie

Dead Lucky by Michael Yezerski

Best Music for a Short Film

For The Girl in the Coffee Shop by Angela Little

Best Music for Children’s Television

The Pilgrims Progress by Michael Dooley

Best Music for an Advertisement

Dan Murphy’s by Adrian Sergovich, Song Zu Publishing

Most Performed Screen Composer – Australia*

Adam Gock and Dinesh Wicks

Most Performed Screen Composer – Overseas*

Neil Sutherland

*Determined by statistical analysis

Under musical director Jessica Wells, the orchestra opened proceedings with music from Neptune’s Daughter, a silent film made in 1914 by Hollywood’s Universal Studio.

The orchestra also paid a musical tribute to celebrate the 40-year anniversary of the Mad Max film.