FULL BIO
Martin Crane is a composer for film and television based in Brooklyn, New York. His score for Rafa, Zachary Heinzerling's four-part documentary series about tennis icon Rafael Nadal, premieres on Netflix in May 2026. Recorded with a full orchestral strings section and featuring solo violin work by Rob Moose (Severance, Everything Everywhere All at Once), the score blends traditional orchestration with textural sound design — an approach that reflects the range of Crane's broader work.
Crane's recent credits include The Antisocial Network (Netflix, 2024), Stolen Youth (Hulu, 2023), Black Gold (Paramount+, 2022), and multiple episodes of PBS Frontline. His first narrative feature, Loved One, directed by Elizabeth Chatelain and produced by Oscar-nominated producer Paul Mezey, was released in 2026. He has scored nearly thirty short films premiering at Cannes, Sundance, SXSW, and Tribeca, and his early work includes music supervision on Cutie and the Boxer, the Academy Award–nominated documentary by Heinzerling.
Crane came to film scoring from songwriting. Under the name Brazos, he released records on Dead Oceans and Autobus in the early 2010s, drawing reviews from The Guardian, FADER, and Interview Magazine, and accumulating over ten million streams on Spotify. He continues to record and release music under both Brazos and his own name.
His scoring voice draws on the sonic traditions of composers like Jóhann Jóhannsson, Mica Levi, Oliver Coates, and Hania Rani — work that treats texture and restraint as seriously as melody. He works primarily from a hand-built studio in Dumbo, and has collaborated repeatedly with directors including Zachary Heinzerling, Gabrielle Schonder, Elizabeth Chatelain, and Giorgio Angelini.
TV
Original Score // Rafa (2026) four-part doc series dir. Zachary Heinzerling (NETFLIX)
Original Score // Frontline: Caught In the Crackdown (2026) dir. Gabrielle Schonder (PBS)
Original Score // Frontline: The VP Choice — Vance vs Walz (2024) dir. Gabrielle Schonder (PBS)
Original Score // Frontline Killer Trucks (2023) dir. Gabrielle Schonder (PBS)
Original Score // Stolen Youth (2023) three-part doc series dir. Zach Heinzerling (HULU)
Original Score // Black Gold (2022) three-part doc series dir. Gabrielle Schonder & Zach Heinzerling (Paramount+)
Original Score // Dirty Money (2020) season 2, ep2 dir. Zachary Heinzerling (NETFLIX)
FEATURES
Original Score // Loved One (2026) feature dir. Elizabeth Chatelain produced by Paul Mezey
Original Score // Everyone Is Lying to You for Money (2025) feature doc dir. Ben McKenzie & Giorgio Angelini
Original Score // The Antisocial Network (2024) feature doc dir. Arthur Jones, Giorgio Angelini (SXSW 2024 Premier) NETFLIX
Original Score // Above and Below the Ground (2023) feature doc dir. Emily Hong
Original Score // The Myth of Ye (2023) feature doc dir. Zachary Heinzerling MRC-produced doc canceled after Kanye's antisemitism
Original Score // Picture a Scientist (2020) feature doc dir. Ian Cheney & Sharon Shattuck (Tribeca 2020 Premier)
Original Score // Community First, A Home for the Homeless (2019) feature doc dir. Layton Blaylock (SXSW 2019 Premier)
Original Score // The Escape of Prisoner 614 (2018) feature dir. Zach Golden. Starring Ron Perlman, Martin Starr, Jake McDorman, and George Sample III
Additional Music // Jaddoland (2018) feature dir. Nadia Shihab. (2018 New Orleans Film Festival, 2020 Independent Spirit Truer Than Fiction Award)
Music Supervision // Cutie and the Boxer (2013) feature dir. Zachary Heinzerling. Emmy - Best Documentary, Cinema Eye Best Score, Academy Award Nomination Best Documentary
Additional Music // How to Let Go of the World and Love All The Things Climate Can't Change (2016) feature dir. Josh Fox
SHORTS
Original Score // The Witch (2026) short dir. Joshua James Richards. Produced by Paul Mezey, Dan Janvey (Present Company)
Original Score // I and Me (2024) short dir. Elizabeth Chatelain
Original Score // Wussup Kallie (2024) short dir. Pepi Ginsberg
Original Score // Let (2024) short dir. Alyssa Loh SXSW2024 Premier
Original Score // Don't You Dare Film Me Now (2024) short dir. Cade Featherstone
Original Score // Tornado (2024) short dir. Jack Kendrick
Original Score // Brownies (2023) short dir. Aisha Ford
Original Score // The Pass (2022) short dir. Pepi Ginsberg (2022 Cannes Cinéfondation premier)
Original Score // Keys to the City (2022) short dir. Ian Moubayed steaming on New Yorker
Original Score // Up in Arms (2022) short dir. Shelly Carmel
Original Score // Paper Geese (2021) short dir. Elizabeth Chatelain
Original Score // The Scientists Versus Dartmouth (2020) short doc dir. Sharon Shattuck
Original Score // Jello (2019) short dir. Zachary Heinzerling (Vimeo Staff Pick Premier)
Original Score // Miss America (2019) short dir. Pepi Ginsberg (2020 Wasserman 1st Prize recipient)
Original Score // La Obscuridad (2019) short dir. Jorge Sistos (2020 King Award for Screenwriting)
Original Score // Swimsuit (2019) short dir. Hasan A. Hadi
Original Score // Motherland (2018) short doc dir. Emily Mkrtichian and Jesse Soursourian (premiered 2018 Full Frame)
Original Score // Palm Trees and Power Lines (2018) short dir. Jamie Dack (2018 Cannes Cinéfondation premier)
Original Score // Cross My Heart (2018) short dir. Sontenish Myers
Original Score // Swallow Grass Snakes (2018) short dir. Pepi Ginsberg
Original Score // Monica (2018) short dir. Gustavo Milan
Original Score // Alba and June (2018) short dir. Pepi Ginsberg
Original Score // East Hell (2017) short dir. Callum Smith (ASCAP Film Scoring workshop at Columbia University)
Original Score // The Blue Dot (2016) short dir. Pepi Ginsberg
Original Score // Kingdom (2016) short dir. Bentley Heyman
Original Score // Hugh the Hunter (2015) short dir. Zachary Heinzerling (Sundance Premier)
Original Score // Americana (2014) short dir. Zach Heinzerling. Produced by Parkwood Entertainment (Beyoncé Knowles)
DOCUMENTARY / BRANDED DOC
Original Score // Chevrolet Blazer Brand Video (2022)
Original Score // Google "Own It" (2021)
Original Score // Corvette ZR1 brand video (2021)
Original Score // Gucci x Garage (2019)
Original Score // Baker Hughes Brand Video (2019)
Original Score // Hydrow Brand Video (2019)
Original Score // Ambev: Brewers on Tap (2018)
Original Score // GE Short animations x5 (2018)
Original Score // Lasker Prizes x3 (2018) doc shorts dir. Flora Lichtman (NYTimes Link)
Original Score // Cynthia For New York - Tax the rich. Fix the subway (2018) - branded doc short
Original Score // Flonase: Hero Activation (2018) - branded doc short dir. Alec Sutherland
Original Score // Ubuntu Nozi's Story (2018) - doc short dir. Alec Sutherland
Original Score and Sound Design // GE Droneweek 2017, Episodes 1-5 (2017) - doc series dir. Zach Golden, Alec Sutherland. Shown on VICELAND
Original Score and Sound Design // An (Animated) Tour of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts (2017) short doc dir. Perrin Ireland
Original Score and Sound Design // Executive Order 9066 - Japanese American Internment (2017) - short doc dir. Flora Lichtman
Original Score // Vito Acconci | Where We Are Now (Who Are We Anyway?) (2016) - short doc dir. Zachary Heinzerling. Produced by MoMA
Original Score // Katharina Grosse | Rockaway! (2016) short doc dir. Sam Fleischner. Produced by MoMA
Original Score // Carolina Herrera - Refined Irreverence Celebrating her 35 year retrospective at SCAD (2016) short doc dir. Ryan Dickie
Original Score // Airwick: Give the Gift of Home (2015) branded doc short dir. Zachary Heinzerling produced byDroga5
Original Score // Mazda Rebels: Phil and the Mighty Mushroom (2015) short doc dir. Zachary Heinzerling. Produced by Vice UK.
Original Score and Sound Design // Animated Life: The Living Fossil Fish (2015) doc short NYT Op Doc dir. Flora Lichtman and Sharon Shattuck - 2016 Emmy Nomination: Outstanding Special Class - Short Format Daytime Program
Original Score and Sound Design // Animated Life: Mary Leakey (2015) doc short NYT Op Doc dir. Flora Lichtman and Sharon Shattuck - 2016 Emmy Nomination: Outstanding Special Class - Short Format Daytime Program
Original Score // Lasker Prizes (2015) doc short dir. Flora Lichtman
Original Score // How saber-toothed cats grew their mouth swords, Flu - The Great Migration (2015) doc short dir. Flora Lichtman and Sharon Shattuck and made possible by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
PODCAST
Original Score // Every Little Thing (2017) podcast dir. Flora Lichtman produced by Gimlet Media
PRODUCTION
Mixing and Production // NARC – Infinite Mine LP (Inscape, 2017)
Mixing and Sound Design // Ian Chang - Spiritual Leader (Kowloon Records, 2017)
Production Mixing Writing // Martin Crane - Physical Therapy (Inscape, 2015) reviewed in: Interview Magazine - FADER - Flood Magazine - KCRW
Production // NARC - EP
Production Writing Singing // Brazos - Saltwater (Dead Oceans, 2013) reviewed in: The Guardian - Line of Best Fit - Relix
Production Writing Singing // Brazos - Phosphorescent Blues (Autobus, 2010) reviewed in: Relix
EDUCATION
NYU Film Scoring Workshop (2018)
ASCAP/Columbia University Film Scoring Workshop (2017) taught by Alex Steyermark
Bachelor of Arts, University of Texas at Austin (2002 – 2007) Major: Plan II Honors
ORIGINAL MUSIC
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