Matt Bellamy, behind the scenes of his work for “1984”

Matt Bellamy of Muse worked on the music for the audiobook of George Orwell's “1984” together with composer Ilan Henry Eshkeri.

On the occasion of today's release – 4 April – of the audio version of Orwell's classic, with the composition recorded by the London Metropolitan Orchestra in the Abbey Road studios, a video has been published which sees the singer and guitarist of Muse at work during the sessions in historical London studies. Andrew Garfield, Cynthia Erivo, Andrew Scott and Tom Hardy collaborated as narrators in the creation of the audiobook.

“The music we created is more than a soundtrack; it is an eerie echo of a future that Orwell warned us about and a reflection of our current social trajectories,” Bellamy and Eshkeri said in a joint statement picked up by the NME: “It is a moving musical testament to the enduring power of 'art of reflecting and challenging the world we live in'.

It is not the first time that Bellamy has crossed his work with George Orwell's book, which – among other things – in 2009 he had cited as one of the main influences for the creation of Muse's fifth album, “The resistance”.

In a chat at the time with Radio 1's Zane Lowe, filmed by the BBC, the leader of the British band made it known that he had reread “1984” shortly before writing the record and said: “When I read it, this time I was much more into the love story.” He continued: “I read it once in school, about 15 years ago, based on the politics part. But when I read it this time, I was much more struck by the love story between Julia and Winston told in the book.”