Joe Henson and Alexis Smith are an English musical duo who make up The Flight (www.theflightmusicofficial.com). The team recently created the soundtrack for 007 First Light, an action-adventure video game developed and published by IO Interactive.
Based on the James Bond franchise, 007 First Light tells an original narrative that was inspired by works of Ian Fleming. The game depicts James Bond's origin story and the mission he must complete to earn his famed "license to kill."
The Flight composers Joe Henson and Alexis Smith
007 First Light is already available for PlayStation 5, Windows and Xbox Series X/S, and will make its way to Nintendo's Switch 2 later this year.
“Joe and I first met Dominic Vega, the audio and missions director on 007 First Light, at GDC in San Francisco in 2019,” says Smith. “We all got along well, and he was already a fan of some of our previous scores. The next time we heard from him was in November 2024, when he contacted us, out of the blue, to say he had recently moved to IO Interactive in Malmö and was working on something exciting.”
007 First Light isn’t quite as vast as some of the open-world adventure RPGs the team has worked on previously, but it is still a substantial experience. In total, The Flight composed around three hours of music. Much of it was scored to picture, which can be unusual for a game. They work out of a two-room studio in East London, with separate setups that allow them to work in tandem.
The brass for 007 First Light was recorded at Abbey Road Studio 1 and the strings at Angel Studios. Matt Dunkley orchestrated and conducted, with Jake Jackson at the console.
“We aren’t really gearheads,” shares Henson. “We have a handful of microphones, but almost everything is recorded through a single Audio-Technica AT4033a that Alexis picked up while working on Moulin Rouge. It’s a fantastic mic. We’ve tried many others but always come back to it.”
“Joe started his career as a touring bass player, so we have quite a few basses,” Smith adds. “A Fender Precision sees a lot of action, and on this project, he also played a Warwick Dolphin 5-string, a Hofner bass and a Warwick Alien fretless 6-string. We both play guitars, including a Fender Stratocaster, a Telecaster and a lovely Gibson Les Paul Junior.”
For composing, The Flight works in Logic on Apple Macintosh computers. First Light was the final project for the team’s old Mac Pro “trashcan” desktops, which we have since upgraded. Both use UAD Apollo interfaces and largely identical commercial sample libraries and plug-ins, including Infinite Samples, Crow Hill, Spitfire Audio, Waves, Audio Damage, Arturia, Soundtoys, TC Electronic and Native Instruments. They also have a large collection of effects pedals, outboard equipment and analogue synthesizers, both vintage and modern.
They tend to start projects by building their own bespoke sample libraries. For First Light, they found themselves in need of a new brass library. Infinite Brass by Aaron Venture met their needs and handled a lot of the heavy lifting.
First Light opens in Iceland, and at that point, James Bond is still a Royal Navy aircrewman. He’s yet to be recruited into MI6 or earned his 007 status. The Flight focused on the bleakness of the surroundings, using very modern production techniques while holding back the more recognizable James Bond motifs.
The level culminates in the opening titles, so as the player rises into the opening song, the music expands and introduces a subtle nod to Bond, giving the player a hint of what is to come.