Folk legend: Jim Ghedi on his soundtrack for Michael Sarnoski's The Death of Robin Hood

When he was asked to score the upcoming Michael Sarnoski film: The Death of Robin Hood, musician Jim Ghedi found himself on a fast track to a type of project very unfamiliar to him. Usefully, when he met Sarnoski over Zoom, they bonded over their love for a particular 60s folk band. 

“Michael was obsessed with Steeleye Span – we nerded out over that in our first chat,” says Jim. “He said, ‘I’m obsessed with this song: Twa Corbies, that they do'. And I was learning it at the time – trying to work out the melody on the guitar. So he said, ‘We should get it on the score.’ The song is about these two birds pecking at a knight’s eyes. It’s from their perspective, which I think is really cool – it’s so brutal!” 

Originally a poem written in Old Scots, Twa Corbies, which is on the soundtrack, is a good example of how the upcoming film, with a UK release date of 4 September, thrives on contrast. The Death of Robin Hood is no small, independent project – it’s a Hollywood production with a cast of famous actors like Hugh Jackman, Bill Skarsgard, and Jodie Comer. Jim, on the other hand, is an artist whose immersive and moody style of folk music has always been grounded in the working class, DIY traditions of Sheffield, where he’s from.

Despite that, Jim resonated with the film’s themes. Through his career, he’s often used folk music as a way of portraying the contemporary world, whether reusing traditional material in a new way, or writing lyrics which, though set against traditional instrumentation, say something about what’s happening in current day society. With The Death of Robin Hood, Michael Sarnoski attempts a similar kind of artistic statement – taking the myth of Robin Hood, and retelling it in a way that’s unexpected for modern audiences… 

“I could really see the human side of the story – if you cut away the folklore, myth, legend – what the script was doing was a human story…” says Jim, adding, “... a human looking back on his life and seeing the consequences of his actions in a time in medieval England that was brutal, violent, and disgusting. It was all of the human emotions in one person, and not necessarily courting the dogma of legend and history around this figure.”

Though enduring a bit of imposter syndrome, Jim recognised that he’d been approached for a reason – the lack of opportunities he’d had like this before were irrespective of how good a job he would do. Once teamed with music editor Tony Lewis, he received footage from Sarnoski, most of which was already completed, “It was refreshing because it was my first film score – he really had my corner, and had my back from the early stages,” he remembers.

It was also clear that the project would have to take place in Sheffield, though the team offered to fly Jim to California. That way he could draw on the ecosystem of musicians who he’s worked with since his early days as an artist.  

“Miraculously, there were loads of people who play medieval instruments,” says Jim. “Rob, who plays nyckelharpa, who I’m friends with. The hurdy-gurdy – someone I live with. So if I wanted to go ‘full historical piece’, I had all those people around me, which sums up Sheff – there’s so much going on, and so many people in the scene. I tried to make it a big deal that most people on the score were from there...” 

Jim’s championing of the Sheffield scene doesn’t come from nowhere – it was an important catalyst for him entering music professionally. Years ago, having left the Uni of Manchester in his 20s, he joined Audacious Art Experiment – a musician and promoter led collective and community centre, in Sheffield, which still exists. The rest, he tells me, was history – it was that experience that helped him realise how, irrespective of your background, you could make music, touring the country, and even outside of it, a big part of your life if you had the right people around you. 

“Cities like Nottingham and Sheffield got done in by the industrial collapse, and because of that we’ve done it ourselves,” he says. “What came out of that were two aspects – a community driven mentality where you help out your community because you can only rely on that. And two, if you want to do anything, you can’t go to London, so you have to pull your finger out. In Sheffield in the 80s that was how all these factories got used by musicians who were on the dole – you had The Human League – all this stuff started to happen…” 

You can listen to the soundtrack of The Death of Robin Hood now – it’s on streaming platforms. It’s an atmospheric and unnerving collection of music that layers hypnotic drones with intense string textures. Jim’s distinct, powerful, and cutting vocals arrive sparingly. It works very well for the film, which American audiences have described as challenging, and far from the uplifting watch that you’d expect from a Robin Hood film to be. 

“I’m intrigued to see how it goes down – from an English point of view, I think it’s going to divide a lot of people,” says Jim. “If you’re a Robin Hood obsessive and have fixed your idea of the myth as being this positive ‘stole from the rich, gave to the poor’ – I think people are going to be quite shocked about this depiction of him.” 

And it would of course be a travesty if a musician based so close to the mythic home of the man in green, didn’t visit us at least once while promoting his Robin Hood soundtrack. That’s why, on 3 October, Jim is playing a show in Nottingham, with his band, at The Old Cold Store, which is next to the Vat and Fiddle pub. It should be a very fun one and, considering Jim has played Notts surprisingly little over the years, a once in a blue moon opportunity to see an artist who’s now truly made his name as one of our country’s most exciting folk artists.

“Back in the day, JT Soar, I remember playing there,” remembers Jim. “There was a cafe that some friends used to run… I’ve seen some great gigs in Notts. I really like Notts, I think it is quite similar to Sheff in a lot of ways – the attitude and music scene, it kind of runs parallel. So I’m excited to get there and have a gig.”

The Death of Robin Hood is released in UK cinemas on 4 September. Jim Ghedi plays the Old Cold Store on 3 October. 

@jimghedimusic