Composer: Ilan Eshkeri
When Tim Peake was selected to represent the European Space Agency (ESA) on the International Space Station (ISS) he wanted to document every moment. However, he didn’t just want to take photos and videos, he wanted to create something special. Like all great space movies, he knew he needed a soundtrack and for that he approached Ilan Eshkeri, an award-winning composer, and more importantly, the man behind the soundtrack to one of Peake’s favourite movies, Layer Cake.
Eshkeri didn’t need much convincing. A number of years later, and with the help of never-before-seen footage from the ESA, he put together Space Station Earth – a 60 minute experience through the eyes of an astronaut.
Complete with three enormous screens, lasers, and an orchestra which includes a choir, complete with synthesisers and a keytar, we experience the life of an astronaut from taking off to weightlessness, and looking back on what’s been left behind. It’s an emotional and, at times, haunting experience, which asks ambitious questions. Eshkeri’s composition has a touch of Jóhann Jòhannsson about it, a fusion of electronic and classical orchestrations to create the perfect sci-fi soundtrack which matches the content flawlessly.
Before the show itself is a 45 minute Q&A session with Eshkeri and Peake talking about the project, and their relative experiences. During this session, when Peake is asked about his experience aboard the ISS, he speaks of the “Overview Effect” – something most astronauts experience. It can be described as a cognitive shift in your perspective whereby you understand just how fragile the world is, and achieve a connection with humanity despite being as far away from it as it is possible to be.
The show invokes similar feelings of perspective shifts. At a basic level, everything we are, everything we see, is little more than stardust. The chance of our existence is so slight, the fact we exist at all is a miracle of cosmic proportions. Watching this reminds us of that.
Reviewed on 15 May, and now tours Europe
