Johnny Greenwood: part Radiohead guitarist, part film composer

Johnny Greenwood of Radiohead plays guitar with a violin bow. Angela N. | Flickr Commons

After the release of his fifth score with director and longtime collaborator Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another,” Jonny Greenwood’s genius instrumentals can be found in every song. Whether it’s for a film about a modern American revolution or Radiohead’s most recent full length project, “A Moon Shaped Pool”, released in May of 2016.

The song, “Glass Eyes,” is one of many songs off of this record that features a beautifully slow and prominent string quartet, bringing Radiohead’s signature ethereal sound along with Thom Yorke’s haunting vocals to a more cinematic feel of a song.

Greenwood has always been experimental in his production style with Radiohead’s music and the alt-rock genre. It’s no surprise that this would translate over to his style of composing as well. Just give a listen to this song from Greenwood’s first film with PTA, 2007’s “There Will Be Blood.”

Rather than composing for how the character’s feel in the film, Greenwood’s scores almost act as another character. “Proven Lands,” for example, plays the role of the harsh, barren world of the 19th and early 20th century oil boom in rural California that the characters are set in. 

Its unpredictable plucking and frantic strings mirror the unpredictable and chaotic environment that the main character of the film navigates through, falling deeper and deeper into the ruthlessness and greed of the early oil industry.

Greenwood has performed his soundtracks from his films on stage before, and touched on the similarities between performing with Radiohead and performing with a string quintet at the End of the Road festival in 2021.

“I mean, it’s easy to talk about similarities, in that we decide on a setlist at the last minute, we play whatever songs are sounding good,” Greenwood said in an interview after the UK festival. “It feels like, weirdly like being in a band, not even weirdly, it feels rightfully like being in a band.”

Jonny Greenwood seems to feel comfortable in both worlds, and has further cemented himself as a valuable and multifaceted musician with his latest score for Anderson’s “One Battle After Another.” His score once again plays a crucial role in the film, acting as the struggle of revolution versus a harsh police state, and how easily each side could topple over.

Released on Sept. 26 of 2025, the film is available to watch at home for purchase or available to stream on HBO Max. You can catch Radiohead on their Motion Picture House Kid A Mnesia tour in the U.S. and Mexico, from May. 15 through Feb. 7, with tickets on sale on Axs.

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