The Insects are Tim Norfolk & Bob Locke. Based in Bristol UK,they established themselves in the early 90’s as film composers writing music for numerous wildlife documentaries produced the by BBC Natural History Unit and National Geographic. They won an EMMY award for the score to Arctic Kingdom: Life at the Edge
A growing reputation led to commissions for numerous TV dramas – from crime thrillers to romantic comedy to Sci Fi and animation – and including all 6 series of the psychological thriller TV series Wire in the Blood. BBC One dramas includeDeath comes to Pemberley(2013) and The Living and the Dead(2016) Check out BBC trailer here
More recent work include scores for Hanna Seasons 1 & 2(Amazon Prime) 2019/2020. Check out the Super Bowl trailer here
Also in 2020 the Insects, in collaboration with composers Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow, comleted the score for DEVS – an 8 part series for FX/Hulu. The series was written and directed by Alex Garland (Annihilation & Ex Machina)
“The secret project at the core of “Devs” is one of those things that’s likely to stay with you and haunt you long after you’ve stopped watching. And that goes for the music, which is haunting and thrilling throughout – part “Twin Peaks,” part “2001: A Space Odyssey,” and sometimes, part Tuvan throat singing. The music, like Alex Garland’s story, is relatively unique, and I use that phrase grammatically because the main topic of “Devs” turns out to be relativity. It’s a thoughtful drama exploring quantum physics and predetermination. And how often do you get to see that on television?”NPR. Check out Hulu trailer here
The Insects have also written and produced soundtracks for a number of feature films – whose casts includes such acting luminaries as Phillip Seymour Hoffman, John Hurt, Mark Ruffalo, Franka Potente,Ian McShane,Trevor Eve,Robson Green,Ray Winstone,Anna Maxwell Martin,Matthew Rhys,Jenna Coleman and Matthew Goode.
As producers and songwriters they were an integral part of the 90’s ‘Bristol’ sound, contributing tracks for Massive Attack and Goldfrapp. They produced the critically acclaimed Alison Moyet album Hometime, and wrote and produced as members of The Flies,whose album All Too Human was described as ‘…the Velvets on a David Lynch set..” A track from the album Was recently used on a L’Oreal TV Ad.