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Composer Sean Kiner shares behind the scenes look at Ahsoka soundtrack

By Hope Mullinax

BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA - MAY 10: (L-R) Kevin Kiner, Sean Kiner, and Deana Kiner attend the 2023 BMI Film, TV and Visual Media Awards at Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel on May 10, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for BMI)
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA - MAY 10: (L-R) Kevin Kiner, Sean Kiner, and Deana Kiner attend the 2023 BMI Film, TV and Visual Media Awards at Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel on May 10, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for BMI) /
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Volume I of the Ahsoka soundtrack was released on Friday. Forty-six tracks from Episodes 1-4 are now available to hear on most major streaming services like Spotify. Kevin Kiner’s music has been praised for the series as the long-time animation composer steps into his first live-action Star Wars series.

His son and daughter, Sean and Deana, are part of Kiner’s team, who have contributed majorly to his work. In fact, Sean wrote “Thrawn’s Theme” in Star Wars Rebels, not Kevin Kiner. With the release of the Ahsoka soundtrack, Sean Kiner revealed extra insight about the tracks on their shared Twitter account for a look behind the musical curtain.

For the song “The New Republic,” he said:

"“For this track we wanted to let the audience know they were with the good guys now, but since it’s a piece about the New Republic we couldn’t help but sneak a slightly ominous line into the call and response around 0:18.”"

For “Opening the Map,” he discussed the instruments used for the piece:

"“We generally try to make organic sounds feel strange, and synth sounds feel organic. Here is a good example, we put a ton of delay on Octobans in the opening, and use synths like horns throughout. 1:36 is my fav, feels like an alien war horn. 0:56 Baylan motif! And a variation of the Ronin motif at 1:46, but we play it in big bombastic Baylan brass and Deana played Ahsoka’s theme over top on a flute. All while the alien war horn is calling. Had a lot of fun on this one!”"

https://twitter.com/KinerMusic/status/1702815790091976837

With “Sabine’s Armor,” he focuses on where Sabine’s character was at this time:

"“Spent a long time making this one. It came from a very isolated and lonely place. But I think it captures Sabine’s determination and sense of purpose when paired with Natasha Bordizzo’s stellar performance. Hera’s orchestra comes in like a balm”"

He adds some insight about the recap scores in soundtracks with “Enemies Are Multiplying,” saying:

"“Recap score rarely gets much love but we tried to really share our excitement for the coming episode in each one. This is one of the only tracks that has zero orchestra, just Deana playing a million flutes and my synths.”"

The final tweet shared was a thanks to their team to continue bringing Ahsoka’s story to life:

"“Volume 1 of Ahsoka is now available to listen to. It is truly an honor to continue to help tell her story with our music and we are so grateful to the entire team who creates alongside us.”"

Getting a small look behind the scene of the making of the Ahsoka soundtrack was a wonderful treat from Sean Kiner. What might he share with Volume II is released? We’ll have to wait and see.

This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the Star Wars content being covered here wouldn’t exist.

Stay up to date with all things Ahsoka here at Dork Side of the Force.

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