I gotta tell this whole story, cuz it’s everything I love about life.

Scoring a film has always been a backburner dream of mine. I figured maybe it’d happen someday if I put my songs out there, but, it’s happening the other way around! I don’t write a lot of instrumentals. I get songs beamed into my head and I consider that my main thing, but the first real album I put out was ghostly tape music: The Unbearable Lightness – And The Days Meander On, way back in 2014. I always meant to make more, but lacked the inspiration. In Autumn, I got a piano piece beamed into my head riding my bike home from work in one of the prettiest creamsicle sunsets I’ve ever seen. It’s like George Winston collabing with John Carpenter on a Halloween sequel. I jotted down a demo to show my friends. My bestie Christine showed it to her filmmaker sibling in Cali. Frank’s in film school. They’re wrapping up a final with their class: a short film called The Flower Lady, about a son trying to fill his mom’s role in her flower shop & community after her passing. It was written by a guy who is French but doesn’t speak French but texts exactly the way you imagine a French director would text. Frank liked my demo, proposed it to the director who liked the textures, but felt the song itself wasn’t right for the film. I agreed; too witchy for a sentimental coming-of-age vignette. I tried to make something that would match. The director dropped the word “gossamer” & Olafur Arnalds as reference points. That sparked a new piece in my head, but I already knew it wasn’t what he wanted; it was like Phillip Glass collabing with Enya for the X-Files. I tried again, waded out into the collective subconscious to catch a big fish, Lynch style. This time, I got what I thought was IT: a sincere, nostalgic piece for Sigur Ros-style ambient electric piano. I worked on it all day, leveled up my mixing skills, and at the end, had something I thought was sterling. The melody says things I feel deeply but will never be able to say with words. The director liked it, but was still unsure. “I think my most salient note would be, pianissimo to pianississimo.” Dammit, he was right! As much as I could scale the energy of the sounds back, the notes themselves just sprang forth like Spring. It was too loud, still. But what could I do? This film is due Friday! This was becoming a cruelty thrust upon the postproduction team… I wracked my brain, became obsessed with Olafur Arnalds’ “They Sink”, and realized what was missing: I was using a 90’s synth to replicate prepared piano sounds. I needed to use a real acoustic instrument, played softly, into a tube compressor with the noise floor up too high, so the air around the notes swelled gently with the music, as if the very vibrations were breathing. I banged out an ambient guitar version of an old dream pop song of mine about leaving my hometown. An hour later, the director was congratulating me on making the cut!
Though it’s only a student film, this was more than just a fun brainteaser. It was a crash course in working in this industry. I’ve proven to myself that I got what it takes. Budget gear be damned, I did what I set out to do! And now I have the inspiration for a new ghost music album… The Unbearable Lightness is born again.

Anyway, here’s the track:

https://whyp.it/tracks/268563/the-final-time