2WEI and the internet's growing obsession with trailer music

Have you ever gotten pumped up over a trailer that teased the culmination of your favourite cinematic franchise? Do you ever feel goosebumps while watching good trailers, though you rarely ever question why? Well, then it’s time to introduce German composer duo 2WEI—aka the masterminds behind many of the action-packed trailer audios that we all know and love.

The strength in trailer music lies in the blend between light and sound, in the collaboration that’s made seamless through the incorporation of various elements. Combine two things as simple as stunt grunts and snappy drum sounds, and watch how magic unfolds before your eyes.

Undoubtedly, visuals are responsible for much of the overt magic, but music plays a stronger part in the evocative sense. Can you imagine the Avengers: Endgame final battle without Alan Silvestri’s epic score Portals to complement it? Surely not.

Trailer music and 2WEI’s journey

Being a subsect of music that rarely employs vocals, trailer music brings orchestral goodness to the forefront. Percussion instruments like timpani, woodwinds such as flutes and clarinets, violin and cello strings, and even the multi-purpose piano, all these and many more are combined to produce a mellifluous harmony that stands well on its own without the insertion of lyrics.

Now take that heavenly instrumental and sync it with a robust action sequence—perhaps, a strapping car chase or a sturdy hand-to-hand combat session. That’s how you fuse an abundance of cinematic elements to horripilate your audience with the best of intentions. 

In simple words, trailer music is what you get when you put together a choir kid and a jock. You’d think they won’t get along, but you’re in for a satisfying kick to the heart.

That’s the kind of rhapsodic joy that 2WEI’s music induces in fans of the action and thriller genres, such as myself. From the duo’s epic cover of the Destiny’s Child song Survivor for the film Tomb Raider to the original song Still Here overlaying a League of Legends cinematic video, the composer group has a hand in the orchestral recreation of many classics and the symphonious construction of several new tracks.

The composer group primarily consists of two musical aficionados, Simon Heeger and Christian Vorländer, who founded the group in early 2016. Hailing from Germany, the two became friends during their college years, after which they branched off to separate pursuits. Simon worked for advertising music houses, whereas Christian was employed by renowned composers Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL.

2WEI was created in 2016, and the two embarked on a flourishing journey together. Their compositions have been featured in trailers for popular films. For Wonder Woman, they produced the mettlesome track Catapult from their original album Escape Velocity, whereas for the 2019 film Hellboy, they took a portentous turn with their cover of Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple.

Their discography isn’t devoid of vocal infusion, as in the case with their compositions for the video game League of Legends. They kick-started this venture four years ago with their call-to-arms cover of Warriors by Imagine Dragons, in which they featured singer Edda Hayes. This paved the way for multiple future collaborations with both the singer and game developing company Riot Games.

“In film scoring, the task of the music is to tell what you don’t see or feel in the motion picture but is instead an underlying emotion or story,” said Christian in an interview with Istrico Productions. “It’s better to not just mirror what you see but to try to give it more depth.”