Where The Sun Always Shines

The climate crisis is threatening to swallow up Bognor Regis by 2050. Historically a thriving holiday spot turned national butt-of-the-joke, the town’s residents are used to defending its reputation. But when research emerges suggesting it could end up underwater due to rising sea levels, the community grapples with what this means, both for themselves and for the place they call home. Where the Sun Always Shines is a poetic film of nostalgia, the meaning of home, and what happens when everything you know it is threatened by climate disaster.

My first instinct when approaching this score was to visit Bognor Regis to record sounds of the seaside, the town and its people. The film looks at the possibility of Bognor Regis disappearing due to climate change and rising water levels, and so it felt important to document the town sonically, just as the film was doing so visually.

The score for this documentary covers a range of emotions that highlight the glory days of Bognor as a tourist attraction to how it is today - a place where many locals are struggling and fighting to get by each day. The director, Rosie Baldwin, and I went back and forth about creating a dreamy, whimsical score that highlighted the quirky personality of her home town. This music features cues of a melodic tuba quartet, rhythmic bass clarinets, lots of vibraphones and nostalgic pianos. For the more serious cues, you will hear darker ambient tones that are mixed with sounds of the sea. I wanted to use the sea as a metaphor, almost as if it were a creature that would lull us with it’s wave-like rhythms, slowly swallowing the place and its community.

Directed by Rosie Baldwin.
Produced by Lucy Draper.
Nominations: Best Documentary Short at SXSW.
Festivals: SXSW, DCEFF, DocAviv, Milwaukee Film Festival, British Shorts and Mountainfilm.
Finalist for Social Impact Media Awards 2023.