The Lego® Movie (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) / The Lego(R) Movie (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

“I didn't grow up with Lego bricks,” Mark Mothersbaugh insists, despite all those years in Devo where he wore a costume that sure looked like one. But the new wave icon turned film scorer says the movie's animation tests fired his imagination. “How do you make the sound of Lego bricks?” Mothersbaugh pondered. “And how do you bring Lego bricks to life? I started playing with a lot of electronic things, because I knew you could go further and faster with electronics. I dug through my old Devo synthesizers—and even newer stuff like circuit-bent things and stuff like Skrillex. I just came up with a palette I really liked, that had a plastic, living Lego-block feel.” But Mothersbaugh admits some traditions are indispensable: “You just really need an orchestra to make things feel like they're alive. It's something about breathing humans making the sound, and I think that translates with an orchestra. I think it's important for animation, because there are so many things you lose from live film. The music has a lot to do with bringing animation to life.”