GAELYNN LEA "Music From Macbeth" showcases original compositions from Broadway performances

FFO: Jherek Bischoff, Johanna Warren, My Brightest Diamond

RIYL: ambient, chamber, drone, orchestral

1. Starving

2. Act One

3. Act Two

4. Act Three

5. Act Four

6. Act Five

7. Perfect

Duluth MN – Gaelynn Lea—an American violinist, songwriter, and disability activist—got her big break when she was named the winner of NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Contest in 2016. Since then, she has released several albums, toured internationally, collaborated with Michael Stipe, and has even composed music for Broadway. In May 2025, she released a new album inspired by this theatrical experience, entitled Music From Macbeth.

Gaelynn Lea‘s seven-track concept album is based on the music that she originally composed for the 2022 Broadway production of Macbeth. This star-studded production featured Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga as the royal couple. Lea’s “soundtrack” is the music as she originally imagined it, before the realities of live theater led to many significant edits and cue omissions.

It is mostly instrumental in nature—one long, winding track per act—but it is book-ended by the two vocal songs. “Starving” was designed to be the first music cue (it was eventually cut from the live production). It is a warning call to Macbeth – that his karma is coming for him. “Perfect” was the very last music cue in the play—during the live production it was performed by a cast member, but on this album it is sung by Gaelynn. This song is about failing to realize what you have until it’s too late. It became Lady Macbeth’s theme song; there are instrumental hints of the song sprinkled throughout the album. “My hope is this album takes you on an epic audio journey that mirrors the unfolding, tragic path of the Macbeths themselves,” Gaelynn said.

While Gaelynn was the main composer for this project, she was supported by a group of talented artists in the creation of this album. Dave Mehling created the keys, synth and piano parts. Al Church created the drum and percussion parts. Jeremy Ylvisaker created the electric guitar parts. Together, the band’s creative instrumentation added much more depth and variety than could have ever been achieved by Gaelynn’s violin alone. Jake Larson was the recording, mixing and Atmos mastering engineer, who put in countless hours getting this musical behemoth into order (there were thousands of tracks) and making it sound lovely. Robert Hadley was the stereo mastering engineer. Haley Brown designed the album cover.

Less than a year after the album release, Algonquin Books published Gaelynn’s debut memoir, It Wasn’t Meant to Be Perfect, which chronicles her journey growing up with a disability and then following her career as a musician right up through opening night of Macbeth on Broadway.