Serie - We Own This City :  Soundtrack available tonight at 9pm PT with music by Kris Bowers

By Mulder, 27 may 2022

We Own This City is an American miniseries based on the book of the same name written by Justin Fenton, a journalist at the Baltimore Sun. The mini-series was developed and written by George Pelecanos and David Simon, and directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green.   The six-episode series premiered on HBO on April 25, 2022 and in France on OCS.

WaterTower Music is pleased to announce tomorrow’s release of the soundtrack the HBO® Original Limited Series We Own This City, which chronicles the rise and fall of the Baltimore Police Department's Gun Trace Task Force. The We Own This City (Soundtrack from the HBO® Original Limited Series) features the music of Emmy® Award-winning composer Kris Bowers, whose wide range of acclaimed work includes Green Book, Bridgerton, Ava DuVernay’s 2019 miniseries When They See Us, and DuVernay’s HBO Max limited series DMZ.

We Own This City reunites Bowers with director and executive producer Reinaldo Marcus Green, who commented on Bowers’ work. “Kris and I worked together on my debut feature Monsters And Men. His score completely elevated my film and underscored the emotion of each character and each scene in such a elegant and graceful way. I knew he would bring that same care and attention to detail to We Own This City. Kris is a musical savant but he's also a genuinely openhearted and wonderful human being. What you feel in his music is someone who is actually listening to you. Every chord feels purposeful and organic, and every sound as powerful as they are poignant.”

Bowers shared a mutual sentiment. “I greatly appreciate my friend and longtime collaborator Reinaldo Marcus Green for bringing me on board and love what his vision brought to this series.” "It was such an honor,” the composer continued, “to work on a project with the legendary duo, (We Own This City Executive Producers) David Simon and George Pelecanos. I’ve been a fan of them ever since The Wire, and this show was incredibly special to be a part of.”

Prominently bookending each episode of We Own This City are two of Kris Bowers’ compositions that comprise the soundtrack: “We Own This City (Main Title Theme)” and “We Own This City (End Title Theme).” Both of the acclaimed composer’s tracks feature Baltimore native trumpeter Dontae Winslow, a respected film composer and valued performer/arranger/producer in his own right.

Kris Bowers elaborated on his music. “For the Main Title track, my goal was to build a piece of music almost exclusively using police sounds: handcuffs, sirens, police chatter, etc. What you hear in the final product is all police sounds other than the 808 and Dontae Winslow trumpet. It was great to have the support of Rei, David and George in trying something unique like this, and I’m so proud of the final product." The We Own This City (Soundtrack from the HBO® Original Limited Series)  will be available tonight at 9pm PDT for both streaming and digital purchase. 

Executive produced by George Pelecanos (The Deuce) and David Simon (The Wire) -- and based on the book by Baltimore Sun reporter Justin Fenton -- We Own This City is a six-hour, limited series chronicling the rise and fall of the Baltimore Police Department's Gun Trace Task Force. It examines the corruption and moral collapse that befell an American city in which the policies of drug prohibition and mass arrest were championed at the expense of actual police work.

The cast includes Jon Bernthal (The Walking Dead, Show Me a Hero), Josh Charles (The Good Wife, In Treatment), Wunmi Mosaku (Lovecraft Country), and Jamie Hector (BOSCH, The Wire), among many others. See the full cast here. Pelecanos and Simon also serve as writers, with Reinaldo Marcus Green serving as director and executive producer. They are joined by longtime collaborators Nina K. Noble as executive producer, and Ed Burns as writer/executive producer. HBO alum Kary Antholis also serves as executive producer; Bill Zorzi as writer/co-executive producer, and D. Watkins as writer.

Synopsis : 
The story of the Baltimore Police Department's Gun Trace Task Force. This task force was designed to keep violent criminals off the streets of Baltimore in the face of the city's rising murder rate. The unit ended up operating as a full-fledged criminal organization, with officers stealing money from people they claim are suspects, conducting illegal searches, planting evidence and extorting money from drug dealers

We Own This City
Based on We Own This City by Justin Fenton
Developed by George Pelecanos, David Simon
Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green
Starring  Jon Bernthal, Wunmi Mosaku,, Jamie Hecto, Josh Charles, McKinley Belcher III, Darrell Britt-Gibson, Rob Brown, David Corenswet, Dagmara Domińczyk, Don Harvey, Larry Mitchell
Composer : Kris Bowers
Executive producers : David Simon, George Pelecanos, Reinaldo Marcus Green, Nina Kostroff Noble, Ed Burns, Kary Antholis
Production companies : Spartan Productions, Blown Deadline Productions, HBO Entertainment
Original network HBO
Original release April 25 – May 30, 2022
Running time : 58 minutes

(Source : press release)