January 23, 2025
Providence College studio art technician composed soundtrack for Oscar-nominated Nickel Boys
Scott Alario, a studio art technician at Providence College since 2017, is drawing acclaim for his role as co-composer for Nickel Boys, an Academy Award-nominated film based on Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Nickel Boys.
Nickel Boys tells the story of two Black teenagers enduring horrific conditions at Nickel Academy, a reformatory infamous for systemic abuse and the discovery of more than 100 unmarked graves after its closure in 2011.
The opportunity to score the film was presented to Alario and his long-time music collaborator Alex Somers by filmmaker RaMell Ross, who is renowned for his innovative visual storytelling. According to Alario, Ross required a score that could seamlessly blend with the film’s experiential and first-person perspective while amplifying the emotional gravity of the film’s shadowy world.
Alario met Somers while both were undergraduate students at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Later, while pursuing an MFA at Rhode Island School of Design, Alario met fellow student Ross, now also a professor of visual arts at Brown University. Their professional collaboration blossomed, resulting in Alario and Somers co-scoring their first Ross-directed film, Hale County This Morning, This Evening, which received an Oscar nomination in 2019 for best documentary feature.
Much of the sound for the Nickel Boys score was recorded on set in New Orleans. From recordings of nature, such as the croaking of a frog, to the sounds of a broken ceiling fan and a tap dancer, and the recording of a children’s choir mimicking the sound of bees buzzing, Alario and Somers “embraced imperfect, raw, and textured sounds to create an unconventional score reflecting the film’s haunting themes of injustice, love, friendship, and resilience.” A Washington Post article called the film “one of the most visually and sonically gorgeous movies of the year.”
“RaMell trusted us to do our thing,” Alario said. “He provided us with the creative freedom to embrace risk and to produce sound motifs that carry the viewer through the narrative.”
Alario said working on Nickel Boys marked a significant professional milestone and a deeply personal artistic journey.
“Nickel Boys allowed me to honor the legacy of Whitehead’s novel while pushing the boundaries of cinematic and musical expression,” Alario said. “Despite not having a background in film music, or music in general, my passion for art inspires me to create sounds that confront history and inspire change.”
Nickel Boys has earned more than 34 awards, including Best Motion Picture, Drama, at the 2025 Golden Globes and Best Picture of 2024 from the National Society of Film Critics. It has been nominated for more than 160 awards, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay for the 2025 Academy Awards.
