Geoff Barrow Accuses ‘Gone’ Composer of Copying ‘Devs’ Score

Portishead’s Geoff Barrow has claimed that the composer of the TV series Gone admitted to copying music from his Devs score.

The musician contributed to the soundtrack of the 2020 Hulu series together with Ben Salisbury and The Insects, and has been saying since earlier this year that he noticed a then‑undisclosed television program whose music sounded virtually identical to a cue from Devs.

“The composer and director were aware that the music matched our Devs score, yet they seemingly assumed it would go unnoticed,” he remarked.

Barrow added that the composer “has acknowledged copying the piece” and “attempted to persuade the director to consider an alternative, but the director refused.”

The Portishead artist recently posted on Instagram about the matter, presenting a clip he labels “score police” in which he contrasts Harry Escott’s score for a segment of ITV’s Gone with a portion of his and Salisbury’s work on Devs. The post also features a segment of director Richard Laxton discussing the music and how he and Escott “crafted” it together.

In a comment, Barrow wrote: “As promised, about four months ago both Ben and I heard this on a TV show; we contacted our agent, who then spoke with the composer, who confessed to copying our DEVS score and told the director it was fair to use.”

“He clearly didn’t think that was acceptable. Consequently, we produced a short film that includes director Richard Laxton’s remarks after the series concluded,” he continued. “As composers we often have to chase temporary scores, and we’ve done it ourselves many times. However, it’s time for producers and directors to recognize that they cannot simply appropriate professional work from within our own industry and get away with it. TAA RAA.”

“(PS we don’t need any pseudo‑musicological takes on this because the composer has already admitted to ripping it off.)”

This is not the first occasion on which Barrow has accused others of plagiarism; in 2019 he claimed that rapper Lil Pump used a sample from his and Salisbury’s Annihilation score without permission for a “deeply sexist” track, and he also alleged that The Weeknd sampled Portishead’s “Machine Gun” for the song “Belong To The World” in 2013, though The Weeknd denied the allegation.

Earlier last year, Portishead reunited to perform their song “Roads” at the “Together For Palestine” concert held at London’s Wembley Arena.

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