Varèse Sarabande Records will release Need for Speed – Original Motion Picture Score, currently available digitally, and on CD April 15, 2014. The soundtrack features the original score composed by Nathan Furst (Act of Valor).

On the heels of last year's #1 box office hit, Act of Valor composer Nathan Furst is quickly gaining recognition as one of Hollywood's elite young composers. Continuing his almost decade long collaboration with director Scott Waugh, Nathan Furst started writing Need for Speed themes after reading the script in preproduction. The result is a rousing and powerful score with epic themes.

"Scott and I discussed the story, and the role the score should play in telling that story," said Furst. "We quickly found that big, memorable themes, combining a large orchestra with big broad guitars and synths felt right."

The blending of dream-like guitars and synth elements with memorable and compelling themes surrounded by the strength and elegance of a symphony orchestra has created an exciting American Rock Opera as the sonic backdrop for this emotional story.

The score was written and produced within the production facility of Bandito Bros, where Furst was able to score the film in a very collaborative environment with the director and editor. The score enlists the magic and talents of 90 musicians across 3 recording studios.

Furst is a self-taught musician, and began composing music at a young age. After attending Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA), Nathan left college to accept offers to score film and television projects. To date, Nathan has composed the themes and scores to over 50 films and television shows.

Based on the most successful racing video game franchise ever with over 140 million copies sold, DreamWorks Pictures' Need for Speed captures the thrills of the game in a real-world setting. An exciting return to the great car-culture films of the 1960s and '70s, when authenticity brought a new level of intensity to the action, Need for Speed taps into what makes the American myth of the open road so enticing.

The story chronicles a near-impossible cross-country race against time—one that begins as a mission for revenge, but proves to be one of redemption. In a last attempt to save his struggling garage, blue-collar mechanic Tobey Marshall (Aaron Paul)—who with his team skillfully builds and races muscle cars on the side—reluctantly partners with wealthy, arrogant ex-NASCAR driver Dino Brewster (Dominic Cooper). Just as a major sale to a car broker Julia Bonet (Imogen Poot) looks like it will save the business, a disastrous, unsanctioned race results in Dino framing Tobey for manslaughter.

"There are 3 key themes, with one being a long sweeping theme that plays throughout—sometimes in the orchestra, sometimes with a glistening ambient guitar," described Furst. "We purposefully stayed away from the huge percussion and drum sounds that have come to be expected from this kind of score. Instead, we went with orchestral textures with a lot of ambient, clean guitars."