It's 2011. Cameron Crowe, the director who basically turned the "mixtape movie" into an art form with Almost Famous and Jerry Maguire, decides he needs a very specific sound for a movie about a grieving father who buys a literal zoo. He doesn't go for a standard Hollywood orchestral swell. He goes for a guy from Iceland who sings in a made-up language.
That's how we got the We Bought a Zoo soundtrack.
Honestly, it shouldn't have worked. Jón Þór "Jónsi" Birgisson, the frontman of Sigur Rós, is known for ethereal, sweeping post-rock that feels like standing on a glacier at midnight. We Bought a Zoo is a family dramedy starring Matt Damon and a very young Scarlett Johansson. It’s heartfelt, a bit sugary, and very American. But somehow, Jónsi’s icy, high-pitched vocals and toy-instrument arrangements grounded the whole thing. It gave the movie a soul it might have lacked otherwise.
The Icelandic Connection in Southern California
Crowe has always been obsessed with music. You can tell. He was a Rolling Stone journalist before he was a filmmaker, after all. For this project, he was reportedly listening to Jónsi’s solo album Go while writing the script. He eventually reached out, and Jónsi ended up composing his first-ever film score.
It wasn't just a collection of songs. It was a 45-minute atmosphere.
You've got tracks like "Boy Lilikoi" which were already released, but then you have the original score pieces that Jónsi wrote specifically for the Benjamin Mee story. He recorded a lot of it in his kitchen and at his home studio in Reykjavik. You can actually hear that intimacy. It doesn't sound like a 90-piece orchestra in a sterile studio. It sounds like a guy playing a glockenspiel in his socks.
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Breaking Down the Key Tracks
The standout, the one everyone remembers, is "Gathering Stories." Jónsi co-wrote this with Crowe himself. It’s got that classic Sigur Rós build—the kind that starts with a simple piano melody and ends with a chaotic, joyful explosion of sound. It plays over the credits, and it’s basically the emotional payoff of the entire film.
Then there's "Ævin Endar."
It’s haunting. It’s used during the scenes where the family is dealing with the loss of the mother, and it avoids the "sad movie music" clichés. Instead of telling you how to feel with heavy violins, it stays light and airy, which somehow makes the grief feel more real. It's the "less is more" approach.
What's actually on the album?
Most people don't realize the soundtrack is a mix of three distinct things:
- Original Score: Short, instrumental vignettes like "Sun," "Brambles," and "Sightless Helpless." These are mostly textures.
- Jónsi Solo Material: Tracks from his album Go, specifically "Boy Lilikoi" and "Sinking Friendships."
- The Big Needle Drops: Crowe couldn't help himself. He threw in "Hoppípolla" by Sigur Rós, which is arguably one of the most famous songs in the world for "inspiring" moments. He also included some Bon Iver ("Holocene") and Neil Young, though not all of those made it onto the official Jónsi-centric soundtrack release.
Why the We Bought a Zoo Soundtrack Still Holds Up
Usually, movie scores from ten or fifteen years ago start to sound dated. They use certain synth sounds or "epic" tropes that scream 2011. This one doesn't. Because Jónsi uses "found" sounds—ticking clocks, clicking sticks, toy pianos—it feels timeless.
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It’s also surprisingly optimistic.
A lot of Sigur Rós's discography is melancholy. This soundtrack is the opposite. It’s bright. It’s "Yellow." It’s the sound of a guy trying to convince himself that everything is going to be okay even when he’s surrounded by escaping tigers and a crumbling house.
The Controversy of the "Feel-Good" Score
Some critics at the time hated it. They thought it was too manipulative. They said Crowe was using Jónsi’s "magical" sound to paper over a predictable plot.
But talk to any fan of the We Bought a Zoo soundtrack and they'll tell you the music is the movie. Without it, the scene where Matt Damon’s character finally looks at the photos of his late wife wouldn't hit nearly as hard. The music provides the "20 seconds of insane courage" that the movie constantly talks about.
Technical Details for the Audiophiles
For the nerds out there, the production on this is fascinating. Jónsi worked with Alex Somers (his partner and long-time collaborator). They are known for a production style that involves a lot of "sampling the room."
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If you listen closely to the track "Humming," you aren't just hearing a melody. You're hearing the physical space. There’s hiss, there’s breath, there’s the sound of fingers sliding on strings. In an era where everything was starting to be mixed to be perfectly clean and loud, this soundtrack was intentionally "small."
Fact Check: Was it a success?
While the movie did okay at the box office, the soundtrack became a cult favorite. It’s a staple on "Study" and "Relaxation" playlists on Spotify even today. It showed that Jónsi could work within the Hollywood system without losing his weird, Icelandic edge. He didn't have to change his sound for Matt Damon; Matt Damon’s world changed to fit his sound.
How to Experience the Music Today
If you're looking to dive back in, don't just shuffle it on a tiny phone speaker. This is "headphone music."
- Step 1: Listen to "Gathering Stories" first. It’s the bridge between Jónsi’s pop sensibilities and his avant-garde roots.
- Step 2: Find the "Ames Gardens" track. It’s the peak of the score's atmospheric work.
- Step 3: Watch the "Making Of" featurettes if you can find them. Seeing Jónsi and Cameron Crowe in the studio is a lesson in how two very different creative minds can find a middle ground.
The We Bought a Zoo soundtrack isn't just a companion piece to a film about a zoo. It’s a standalone experimental pop album that happened to find its way into a major motion picture. It remains a high-water mark for Jónsi and a reminder that the best film music doesn't just fill the silence—it builds the world.
Next Steps for Music Fans:
To truly appreciate the evolution of this sound, compare the We Bought a Zoo score to Jónsi’s earlier work on the How to Train Your Dragon song "Stick & Stones." You can see how he began to simplify his complex arrangements into something more direct and emotionally resonant for cinema. After that, look for the vinyl pressing of the soundtrack; it’s widely considered one of the better-engineered soundtracks of the 2010s and often features expanded artwork that mirrors the film's "field notes" aesthetic.