Jon Brion is happy if you’re happy. At least that’s the composer’s position when it comes to the vinyl release of his score for Lady Bird, Greta Gerwig’s Oscar front-runner. While Brion has been in the business for decades, a touch of fortuitous timing has turned the start of 2018 into a bit of a renaissance for his deeply felt work.

In addition to the Lady Bird score (released on limited-edition white vinyl from Fire Soundtracks and Lakeshore Records on Friday), the Austin-based label Mondo also recently pressed a three-disc version of Brion’s score for Magnolia. Ever the audiophile, Brion is quick to note his scores weren’t intended for the vinyl medium—“so that precludes me from having too much excitement.” But he does concede that the format has its appeal.

“I think the notable difference with vinyl is that you are more likely to listen to five songs in a row,” he says. “I think that is the beautiful part. I think that is a bigger part of why people have an emotional experience with it. Vinyl doesn't even require that you pay attention. Maybe you're at your apartment, and you'll do some cleaning-up and leave the record on.”

Forrmat aside, fans of movies and music have been having emotional experiences with Brion’s work since he first teamed with Paul Thomas Anderson for the director’s 1996 debut, Hard Eight. Audiences who haven’t heard of Brion have likely heard him nonetheless, possibly through his scores for films like Punch-Drunk Love and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, or perhaps in his production work, which ranges from the piano ballads of Fiona Apple to the chamber pop influence he lent to Kanye West’s Late Registration. A few may even recall his tenure in the early 90s band the Grays, or via Meaningless, his lone solo record, released in 2001.

For years, he has existed as something of an open secret, playing monthly shows at Largo in Los Angeles and offering his unparalleled appreciation for the mechanisms that make music soar for those who seek his counsel. In long, thoughtful answers, he namechecks clarinetist Artie Shaw and punk rockers the Buzzcocks with equal enthusiasm. He discusses popular music with the reverence and concern of a cultural historian eager to preserve a legacy at risk of extinction, but one whose own contributions to the form have continued to ensure its survival.

These qualities inspired Greta Gerwig to reach out to Brion to score Lady Bird, a portrait of a teenager at odds with the world in early 2000s Sacramento. After watching the film, Brion mined the material on-screen to find his approach, ultimately opting to draw on memories of his father.