The National and Leonardo DiCaprio have a collaboration on the way, sort of, and not really. You see, The National’s Bryce Dessner, along with Ryuichi Sakamoto and German electronic musician Alva Noto, are behind the score for Alejandro González Iñárritu’s new movie The Revenant, in which DiCaprio stars. So it’s not quite the collaboration we claimed, but it’s neat regardless.

Today, Dessner shared “Imagining Buffalo”, one of his songs from the film’s soundtrack, and it definitely falls more in line with traditional film scores than a brooding indie rock tune. Swelling strings and synthesizers lead the ambient track, which we hope will score an Oscar-winning scene for DiCaprio. From the pre-release buzz surrounding the movie, it seems like he deserves it: the movie includes a scene where he has to fight off an attacking mother bear (not a bear attempting to sexually assault him, as was previously rumored.) Regardless, if this doesn’t get Leo the award he deserves, then he’s not meant to have a trophy of his own.

Dessner doesn’t actually perform the track himself. He composed it, but it is performed by Berlin-based group stargaze and conductor André de Ridder. The rest of the soundtrack will be available for listening soon: it will be released digitally on Christmas Day, on CD on January 8, and on vinyl in April. In case you want to hear the songs in their cinematic context (or just watch DiCaprio fight off a bear), the movie itself will see a limited release on Christmas Day, and a wide release on January 8.

Listen to the song and watch a trailer for the film below.

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HT: Pitchfork

Featured image courtesy of Milan Records