Department Q (Soundtrack from the Netflix Series)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MADISON GATE RECORDS RELEASES
DEPT. Q
(SOUNDTRACK FROM THE NETFLIX SERIES)
MUSIC BY
CARLOS RAFAEL RIVERA
AVAILABLE ON DIGITAL PLATFORMS NOW
ALBUM ART (FOR MEDIA USE): DOWNLOAD
(May 29, 2025 – Los Angeles, CA) – The Soundtrack from the Netflix Series Dept. Q, composed by 3x Emmy-winner Carlos Rafael Rivera (The Queen’s Gambit, Godless), is now available on all major digital platforms, launching in tandem with the Netflix premiere of the highly anticipated crime drama. Reuniting with acclaimed filmmaker Scott Frank, Rivera crafts a propulsive score that anchors the show’s brooding atmosphere and emotional depth.
Rivera says, “As we were getting started on Dept. Q, Scott sent me a playlist featuring bands like Flogging Molly, The Tartan Rockers, and Dropkick Murphys. There was an aggression and muscularity in that music that Scott wanted translated into our story. Alongside that, we have our main character, DCI Carl Morck - a man whose life is in free fall - so the melody of the main title keeps descending. But my favorite part of the process was that the harmonic bed was built on a set of chords Scott himself had written. It made perfect sense to connect all these ideas into what became the main title of Dept. Q.
Releasing a soundtrack offers the unique privilege of curating the audience’s experience - especially for those who care enough about the story to engage with the music on its own. Track titles are designed to be evocative of characters, locations, or story points, and ideally, they’ll rekindle powerful moments from Scott’s brilliant narrative - whether it’s the constricting space of The Chamber, musically underscored as if in outer space, or The Ferry Montage, where we begin to understand the case Detective Morck is taking on. While the music in the story has to take turns and make room for dialogue or sound, assembling the soundtrack allows the score to be realized more fully - tailored specifically for the listening experience.”
Listen here: https://soundtrk.lnk.to/DepartmentQ
DEPT. Q is streaming now on Netflix.
ABOUT DEPT.Q
DCI Carl Morck is a brilliant cop but a terrible colleague. His razor-sharp sarcasm has made him no friends in the Edinburgh police. After a shooting that leaves a young pc dead, and his partner paralyzed, he finds himself exiled to the basement and the sole member of Department Q; a newly formed cold case unit. The department is a PR stunt, there to distract the public from the failures of an under-resourced, failing police force that is glad to see the back of him. But more by accident than design, Carl starts to build a gang of waifs and strays who have everything to prove. So, when the stone-cold trail of a prominent civil servant who disappeared several years ago starts to heat up, Carl is back doing what he does best - rattling cages and refusing to take no for an answer.
PRESS MATERIALS: ALBUM ART | PIVOT LINK
Department Q
The Ferry
The Chamber
Merritt
Carl
Carl's New Office
The Hatch
Jasper
Finch
William
Akram and Rose
Mhòr
Texts
Leith Park
Sam
The Necklace
The Press Conference
Boobrie
Pressure
Last Breath
The Girl in the Bubble
ABOUT CARLOS RAFAEL RIVERA
Carlos Rafael Rivera is a Grammy and 3x Emmy winning composer and educator with a multifaceted career in Film, TV, and the Performing Arts. His work includes scores for Netflix’s GODLESS, for which he received a Primetime Emmy, his award-winning score for THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT, for which he won his second Primetime Emmy and first Grammy Award, Universal Pictures’ A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES, starring Liam Neeson, the hit show HACKS for HBO Max, Universal’s CHUPA, as well as the global hit LA REINA DEL SUR 3 for Netflix/Telemundo.
Carlos scored the Apple TV series LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY, starring Brie Larson, for which he received his third Primetime Emmy award. In addition, Rivera received the Society of Composers and Lyricists (SCL) award for his main title sequence in the series.
Other titles include the Netflix limited series GRISELDA, starring Sofia Vergara; Bleecker Street's EZRA, starring Bobby Cannavale, Rose Byrne, and Robert DeNiro; as well as his continued collaborations with writer/director Scott Frank on AMC Network's MONSIEUR SPADE and the Netflix series DEPARTMENT Q. Carlos was nominated as World Soundtrack Awards Television Composer of the Year in 2024, an award he previously won in 2021.
A protégé of Randy Newman, Carlos serves as Chair and Associate Professor at the University of Miami's Frost School of Music in Media Scoring and Production.
He resides in Miami, Florida.
ABOUT MADISON GATE RECORDS
Madison Gate Records is the in-house, independent record label of Sony Pictures Entertainment. Connect with us at MadisonGateRecords.com.
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PRESS CONTACT
Sarah Roche
White Bear PR
