Born in 1990, Blumberg is a brilliant English artist, musician, songwriter and composer.
He is known for his score for the 2024 film The Brutalist, for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Original Music and the Best Original Score Oscar.
My Oscar Book:
Blumberg was brought up in a Jewish family.
In 2005, when he was only 15, Blumberg co-founded and sang vocals for the band Cajun Dance Party, releasing their only album, The Colourful Life, in 2008.
From 2009 to 2013, Blumberg was frontman and guitarist for the indie rock band Yuck, whose self-titled debut was released in 2011. During his time in Yuck, Blumberg also performed as Oupa, releasing the album, Forget, in 2011.
He left Yuck in 2013 to focus on other projects, the first was Unreal by Hebronix, a solo project by Blumberg produced by Neil Michael Hagerty, which was released by ATP Recordings in 2013.
This was followed by a split single with Neil Michael Hagerty, released under the name Heb-Hex.
Since 2013, Blumberg has worked mostly around Cafe Oto utilising Oto Project Space and working regularly with Seymour Wright, Billy Steiger, Tom Wheatley, Ute Kanngiesser, Ross Lambert and Elvin Brandhi.
He explained to Il Manifesto in 2019: “Live music must be live. I can’t say what will happen from one concert to another. Sound with different formations and combinations. I’m in a trio with Billy and Tom. The space and context are always different and for this reason the music we produce is never the same.”
Mute Records released Blumberg’s debut solo album, Minus, in May 2018, which Billboard described it as “one of the more unique and exquisite records you’re likely to hear this year.”
In 2018, Cafe Oto’s OtoRoku released a live album, recorded on 28 February with Billy Steiger, Tom Wheatley and Ute Kanngiesser. It was mixed by Marta Salogni, amongst others.
On 5 June 2018, Blumberg, Steiger and Wheatley performed two tracks from Minus, “The Bomb” and “Minus”, on Later… with Jools Holland.
In December 2019, he performed with a motorbike in a duo with Tom Wheatley for ICA’s Pere Portabella retrospective.
In March 2020, he performed live stream concert at Cafe Oto as part of fundraiser for the venue which incorporated extended sections of live drawing and live versions of his songs.
His third studio album GUT was released in May 2023, once again via Mute Records. The album was preceded by one single, “CHEERUP,” released the same year.
Blumberg performs with saxophonist Seymour Wright as GUO. Their first release, GUO1, was self-released in 2016, with text from David Toop.
In 2017, GUO2 was released by Cafe Oto’s label Oto Roku, and included text from American filmmaker and actor Brady Corbet.
GUO4 was released on Mute Records on 20 September 2019,[32] featuring text from Fran Edgerley of Turner Prize-winning collective Assemble[33] and a short film by Peter Strickland.
BAHK, Blumberg’s ongoing collaboration with Elvin Brandhi (of the duo Yeah You) has encompassed sporadic concerts, residencies and collaborative music, drawing and film.
In 2018, Curzon Cinemas/British Film Institute (BFI) commissioned Blumberg to compose the music to launch their Agnès Varda season “Gleaning Truths,” which went on to tour the UK.
In 2019, GUO collaborated with British director Peter Strickland who created a short film entitled GUO4, to coincide with the release of the record on Mute which premiered at 76th Venice Film Fest.
In October 2019, GUO collaborated with director Brady Corbet on a short and performance entitled GYUTO which premiered at London’s Close-Up Film Centre.
Blumberg composed the striking score to Brady Corbet’s 2024 The Brutalist, which stars Adrien Brody as the Hungarian Jewish architect László Tóth who survives the Holocaust and builds a new life in America.
The score combines tinkling jazz horns and piano with blasts of brass and drums that evoke the tumult of Tóth’s inner world.
The imposing, boisterous score plays a particularly prominent role in the three hour film. Some critics have compared Blumberg’s stirring work with the jagged edges of Mica Levi or the solemn grandeur of Terence Blanchard.
His work is seen as one of the best scores of 2024, receiving a BAFTA Award as well as the Best Original Score Oscar.
In 2025, Blumberg produced the score for Mona Fastvold’s musical drama, The Testament of Ann Lee, and Gianfranco Rosi’s Below the Clouds, the latter marking his first documentary score.
