
01 Nov 2020 Composers On Film – Podcast Interview with The Angel
Eclecticism is the singular word that sums up my relationship to music, whether I’m creating it or appreciating someone else’s. No neat little boxes for me… For this podcast interview, I’ve also talked about my commitment to work with and support women filmmakers as much as possible, and have included score from two very different, current short films, helmed by women. And the piece of score that opens the episode, “Scouting Vista”, is taken from the documentary feature, “Born To Lead: The Sal Aunese Story.” I co-produced and scored this deeply moving documentary about Sal Aunese, the legendary Colorado University Samoan college football quarterback, for director Lara Slife.
In TV and film, I’ve been hired to score very diverse dramatic projects. “Boiler Room,” which is set in NY on the scammier end of Wall St., against the backdrop of ’90s hip hop, saw director Ben Younger’s penchant for scratching and beat driven score to work seamlessly between 50 Cent’s “That Ain’t Gangsta” and A Tribe Called Quest’s “Award Tour”. But the current short film, “Bombs Bursting In Air,” is set in 1949 Coney Island with an earthy palette of piano, strings, upright and vocal textures…
Many of my projects are night and day. Between the UK cult hit KiDULTHOOD set in London against a backdrop of UK hip hop and grime and the independent feature, GAIA, set in the Arizona desert, again my score is on opposite ends of the stylistic spectrum.
And when it comes to making records, I’ve worked across, rather than squarely inside of any genre. Throughout my career, I’ve irreverently blended everything from acid jazz, trip hop, hip hop, downtempo, jungle, drum n bass, reggae, dub, soul and straight ahead jazz… So it was a real pleasure to dig into some of my all time favorite tracks by Isaac Hayes, Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66, Public Enemy, composer Jeremy Sams and Milton Nascimento, as well as an eclectic sampling of my score with the fabulous host of “Composers On Film” podcast, Gemma Dempsey.
No Comments