Nala Sinephro announces release of Original Motion Picture Soundtrack for Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine

NALA SINEPHRO ANNOUNCES RELEASE OF ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK FOR BENNY SAFDIE’S THE SMASHING MACHINE, OUT 3 OCTOBER VIA WARP RECORDS / A24 MUSIC

SHARES LEAD SINGLE ‘GRAND PRIX’

“If it is a deep dive into the cycle of existence, not everything it brings back to the surface is straightforwardly beautiful or wonder-inducing. It’s more complicated and interesting than that, and therein lies its strange, entrancing power”
4/5 The Guardian ‘Album of the Week’

“Endlessness is more than a crafty marvel, or even than the sum of its vaunted parts. It feels like a feat of physics”
8.5 ‘Best New Music’ Pitchfork

Listen to ‘Grand Prix’ here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5iroWFGfcA

Website | Instagram | YouTube | Bandcamp

Nala Sinephro has today announced the release of her debut film score for the Benny Safdie written and directed The Smashing Machine which stars Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt and tells the story of prolific UFC fighter Mark Kerr. The album will be released digitally on 3 October via Warp Records / A24 Music and physically on 23 January 2026. Today Sinephro has also shared lead single ‘Grand Prix’.

The Smashing Machine premiered this month at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival to a 15-minute standing ovation and saw Benny Safdie pick up the Silver Lion for Best Director.

The film was featured on last Friday’s The Guardian Film & Music cover, read the interview here.

Whereas Sinephro’s compositions are free-flowing, the sounds for The Smashing Machine (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) were collaged by Sinephro playing synthesisers, harp, modular synths, and harmonium. The score was composed, arranged, produced and mixed by Sinephro. Benny Safdie came to London for a recording session (which Nala described as one of her favourites) with her regular collaborators, such as James Mollison (Saxophone) and Nubya Garcia (Saxophone, Flute), Morgan Simpson (Drums), Sheila Maurice-Grey (Flugelhorn), and Lyle Barton (Rhodes, Synthesiser), Mark Mollison (Guitar), Dwayne Kilvington (Synth Bass) and strings played by Orchestrate. The musicians entered Safdie’s world, and were encouraged to play into the emotions of the film. For the title track, drummers Morgan Simpson and Natcyet Wakili performed drums live along to a fight scene, playing with a bristling, quick-footed aggressiveness as if they themselves were fighting: snares represent hits, a rumbling kick drum like a racing heart.

Although Sinephro’s music – meditative, ethereal, and vast – may seem like a paradoxical choice for a story about a wrestler, Mark’s story resonated with Sinephro a lot and she picked up on the hidden softnesses and emotions within the story. The score still sounds distinctively like Sinephro – spacious with steady warmth, gorgeous string arrangements, light-touch themes, unhurried harp – but intensified to match the film’s themes: pressure, fear of losing, addiction, pain, volcanic relationships, and feeling the high.

The Smashing Machine (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) follows up Sinephro’s second album Endlessness which was released last year to huge acclaim including being named The Guardian’s #2 ‘best contemporary albums of 2024’ and appearing in end of year lists from Crack (#3), Pitchfork (#5), The Line of Best Fit (#6), Resident Advisor, DJ, Loud and Quiet and many more. Later this year she will perform a number of concert hall shows throughout Europe including at London’s Royal Festival Hall on 7 November as a part of Pitchfork Music Festival London. Full dates and tickets can be found below.

Pre-order The Smashing Machine (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) here:
https://nalasinephro.ffm.to/thesmashingmachine

Photo credit: Tofjan

High-res images are available here

Tour dates:

28 Oct – Berlin, DE @  Kammermusiksaal
4 Nov – Paris, FR @ La Seine Musicale
7 Nov – London @ Royal Festival Hall – TICKETS
8 Nov – Bristol @ Bristol Beacon (Simple Things Festival)

Tickets are available here:
https://nalasinephro.com/

The Smashing Machine (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) tracklist:

1. Dawn
2. Grand Prix
3. The Smashing Machine
4. The High
5. Mark
6. KO
7. Mark ll
8. Dawn ll