While it was a pleasant surprise (it literally woke me up) to hear Nick Cave soundtrack a poignant scene in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 1, the back-story just might bring the moment a bit more depth. As it turns out, the man behind our latest cover song feature actually beat out Radiohead, Spiritualized, and other film soundtrack usual suspects for Harry and Hermione’s dance sequence. Music supervisor Matt Biffa tells Pop & Hiss:
We talked a lot about some of the great old soul songs, songs from James Carr and Otis Redding… But they’re too much of the Muggle world, if you like. It’s too human, such as bands like Oasis, and Radiohead, to a certain degree. As much as I love Radiohead, I think it would have been too obvious.
In a moving admission, Biffa says he actually drew on his marital troubles for the “uplifting, but not too pointedly romantic” song selection, saying that “O Children” first struck him years ago while worrying about his 1-3-year-old children during the impending split: “It was like a love letter to my kids.” Aww. Read more from Biffa here and give Cave’s full 2004 tune a spin below.