One Battle After Another (soundtrack)

One Battle After Another is Greenwood's sixth score for the director Paul Thomas Anderson.^[1] Greenwood was involved with the film since its inception and had the script since late 2023. He wrote music based on the script, and played to the finished film during production so that the team could get a sense of understanding on the tone and go along with the script. Anderson and Greenwood watched the dailies to use the musical pieces throughout the film.^[2]

Greenwood acquired military drums and played them with computer-controlled robotic beaters. He described the arrangement as "a sort of ghost percussion group in the room next door with all these drums on the floor and all of these cables leading to my laptop".^[3] Anderson said: "Jonny's music is always unique and special. We got a sneak preview of where this was going, what the tension was going to be, and what we needed to sustain, so it's a tremendous luxury to work like that, and it's because Jonny is steps ahead of us."^[2]

The film also features two musical cues written by Jon Brion, who worked on several previous Anderson films. The music came from Anderson's archive of unused music. The session drummer Matt Chamberlain said it came from an improv session he did with Brion and Jim Keltner several years prior.^[4][5] Other tracks include "Soldier Boy" by the Shirelles and "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" sung by Ella Fitzgerald.^[6]

The film score was released through Nonesuch Records on September 26, 2025, the same day as the film's release in digital platforms.^[7][8] A physical edition of the album was released on November 14.^[9][10]

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian called the score "jolting, jangling, nerve-shredding".^[11] Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com wrote "More essential to the film's tone is a truly bonkers score by Jonny Greenwood, one that almost constructs themes for sections around sparsely played individual instruments. For a long stretch in the middle of the film, as Bob and Sergio evade Lockjaw's team, it sounds like a single piano key being struck, with the occasional flurry of what could be a cat running along the ivories. It's a remarkably effective choice, a score that almost sounds like an alarm going off somewhere."^[12] Owen Gleiberman of Variety wrote "Jonny Greenwood's modernist musical score pacing the film like a metronome of suspense."^[13]

Justin Chang of The New Yorker wrote that the score "veers between manic percolation—imagine a xylophone humping a coffeepot—and grandly operatic surges of synth. The music sweeps us up in the queasy thrill of revolt, but also in the heat and momentum of an impetuous romance."^[14] David Jenkins of Little White Lies wrote "Jonny Greenwood's score another blinder".^[15] Amy Nicholson of Los Angeles Times commented that "Jonny Greenwood's marvelously uneasy score of pounding piano, sounding at once improvised and insistent, hammers away as if trying to remember its own tune".^[16]

Barry Hertz of The Globe and Mail noted that the film is "buoyed by a jittery, jangly score by Anderson's long-time collaborator Jonny Greenwood that is electric enough to power the grids of several municipalities".^[17] Ross Bonalme of Collider wrote that "Greenwood, as always, completely overwhelms with his score. The use of strings held over an extended period of time sounds as though they could split at any second as the tension rises, and heightens pretty much every moment in the film. Greenwood's score is nearly omnipresent throughout the almost three hours, but it's never oppressive and always necessary in setting the tone."^[18]

All tracks written by Jonny Greenwood, except "Mean Alley" written by Jonny Greenwood and Thom Yorke.

The following songs were featured in the film, but not included in the soundtrack:^[19]