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PRESS KIT · 2026
Pav Gekko nominated for an Ivor Novello Award
SPIRIT OF THE NORTH 2 · BEST ORIGINAL VIDEO GAME SCORE
Pav Gekko has received Ivor Novello Award nomination for Spirit of the North 2. The category celebrates music that deepens storytelling and emotion while remaining musically coherent as it responds to the player.
Spanning over five hours across 93 tracks, the soundtrack draws on Icelandic minimalism, Ebow textures and felt piano to evoke vast Nordic landscapes, the aurora and an unseen spiritual world. Its mystical, poetic sound creates an atmosphere of wistful longing, or 'kaiho' in Finnish.
He is nominated alongside The Flight for 007 First Light and Sam Slater for Saros. Winners will be announced at the Ivors Composer Awards in London on 17 November 2026.
About the Ivor Novello Awards
Presented since 1956, the Ivor Novello Awards are among the most prestigious honours for songwriting and composition. Past recipients include John Barry, Andrew Lloyd Webber, John Powell, Jonny Greenwood and Yoko Shimomura. The composer categories are judged by fellow composers.
Music as a narrator
Spirit of the North 2 follows a fox and raven through an ancient, Nordic-inspired world. Gekko’s score evokes the poetic beauty of the aurora and vast landscapes, alongside an unseen mystical presence. Without dialogue, the interactive score plays a vital role in guiding the story by reacting to the player's journey.
Drawing on Icelandic minimalism, it combines e-bowed guitars, delicate piano, glockenspiel, and strings with spacious textures.
“The game has no dialogue, so music plays a big part in telling the story. It needed to respond to the player’s actions, helping guide the story as they explore. For me as a composer, that’s a dream come true. I wanted the score to give voice to the poetic beauty and vastness of the landscape, and to the magical, unseen presence within it. To have that work recognised with an Ivor Novello Award nomination means a great deal to me.”
— Pav Gekko
“Beautiful melodic writing meets spellbinding orchestration that perfectly encapsulates the essence of winter. (…) to me, it echoes the Björk album, Vespertine.”
— Ashton Mills, RuneScape: Dragonwilds · Choosing Spirit of the North 2 as his favourite game soundtrack of 2025 for VGC.
Experience the score with gameplay
Behind the score
Other Nominations
Selected Press Coverage
About Pav Gekko
Pav Gekko is a British-Polish composer and interactive music designer. He spent most of his life in Derby, UK, where he established his career. His score for Spirit of the North 2 has been recognised by the Hollywood Music in Media Awards, G.A.N.G. Awards and Music+Sound Awards. His music has been broadcast by BBC Radio, Classic FM and ABC Radio, among others.
For Smalland: Survive the Wilds, Pav collaborated with the Limelight Orchestra on a 50-piece orchestral recording, championing local musical talent in the Midlands. His commitment to supporting regional musicians contributed to his selection as a finalist for Best Music Artist at the 2025 We Are Creative Awards.
His work also includes music for Universal Production Music and television, with compositions featured in Mythic Quest (Apple TV) and Kung Fu (HBO).
A former video game producer, Pav brings composition, game development practices, music systems and implementation together, writing scores around the interactive behaviours they are designed to support. By connecting player behaviour and game states with musical expression, he shapes not only what players hear, but when and why it changes.
Across styles and genres, his music carries a distinctive otherworldly quality, evoking wonder, nostalgia and a sense of something magical, ancient or beyond the visible world.
“Musically, I’m always drawn to the meeting point between wonder and nostalgia - a sound that suggests something magical, otherwordly or evokes the feeling of something beyond the visible world, like the northern lights in Spirit of the North 2, the enchanted forest in Smalland or the ancient gods in Pagan Witchcraft”
— Pav Gekko
Album Information
Album Title | Spirit of the North 2 (Original Soundtrack) |
Soundtrack release | 20 May 2026 · Laced Records |
Duration | 93 Tracks · 5 hours, 18 minutes |
Music by | Pav Gekko |
Game Developer | Infuse Studio |
Kulning vocals | Aleksandra Kowalczyk |
Mastering QC | Joe Caithness |
Mastering | Jakub Wielgus |