Behind The Scenes Composer Chat :ROB LORD INTERVIEW

Ai Weiwei

My company Stylophonic Music have been working with talented sound designer Pendle Poucher to create music and sound design for a new 360° online video installation created by Animal, Vegetable, Mineral for The Royal Academy London, based on the recent exhibition of work by dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/ai-weiwei-360

Writer's Retreat

I've recently completed work on a new horror thriller film, Writer's Retreat produced by Moli Films. I wrote a haunting murder ballad for the opening of the film sung beautifully by a wonderful singer called Eliza Skelton and the score for the film is a mix of semi improvised psychedelic folk and twisted electronics and sound design. The score was recorded at Yellow Fish studios in Lewes by Ian Caple who's lengthy credits include production for Tricky, Kate Bush, Ryan Adams, Neneh Cherry, Echo & The Bunnymen, Simple Minds, My Bloody Valentine, The Sugarcubes, Suede, David Bridie, A-Ha, Adam & The Ants, Cabaret Voltaire and Shriekback.

Dance Camp

Dance Camp is the first US feature film by my long term collaborators, directors Bet and Bertie, since their recent move to Los Angeles. The film features lots of licensed music and I worked on the underscore based around 80's drum machines, vocoders, edgy guitars and synths which we recorded here in the UK.

Little People

I've just finished work on a new 52 part US animation series called Little People. I wrote and recorded 31 songs for the show and underscored 39 episodes. Beautifully animated by DHX media, some great scripts and performances, the show is a lot of fun and it will be available worldwide shortly. It was produced by Hit Entertainment.

The Girl Who Talked To Dolphins

I was commissioned by the BBC to score this extraordinary feature doc directed by Chris Riley. The film has since been nominated for BAFTA, RTS and Grierson awards.

Night Of The Fight

I've completed work on this gritty feature doc for Adhoc films. The score is a mixture of distorted and mumbled songs and lo-fi guitar and electronic instrumentals.

Death Of A Gentleman

Work on this feature doc has allowed me in insight into just how long a project of this nature can take. In essence the film makers spent years filming and refining until they'd actually found the film they wanted to make. I came on board in the first year and produced a score for their film working with a long time collaborator, Brian Eno and Sinéad O'Connor guitarist Graham Kearns and featuring Eno/Shriekback/Tom Waits percussionist Martyn Barker. I then went off to work on new projects as the producers continued to film for another two years! The final film features three of my original pieces in the score and has recently won the 2016 Sports Journalists Award for best feature documentary.

Skirt

Skirt, a film I scored for director Amanda Boyle and Academy Films, won best fashion film last night at the 2012 Vimeo awards in New York.

Worm

Recently finished mixing the score to Worm a new film by Bert and Bertie at De Lane Lee in London. A strange and brilliant film as you might expect from the Berties. The theme I wrote for the film swings wildly from Ennio Morricone to New Orleans funeral music with a splash of electronics thrown in for good measure and you can hear it here http://snd.sc/woK0O7

The Four Year Plan

The Four Year Plan is an award winning hour and a half long feature documentary directed by Mat Hodgson for Adhoc Films that I scored earlier this year, which is being broadcast here in the UK Sunday March the 4th, on BBC2 and BBC HD at 11.15pm.

RCVR

RCVR is a six part US Sci-Fi series directed by David van Eyssen which I scored at the end of 2011. Over six million views so far and it won the drama category of the IAWTV awards in Las Vegas in January 2012. I'm very pleased with the score which combines ondes Martenot, crystal baschet and glass armonica with live strings, pianos, choir and electronics. You can see a short clip from episode one here where there is also a link to the full series https://vimeo.com/35625367

News Oct 2010

Have been terribly lax in updating this - again! Been pretty busy since the last post and briefly this is what I've been up to. I scored a US pilot for a new Sci-Fi series called RCVR (Receiver) directed by David van Eyssen which turned out really well. Musically there are all kinds of cool influences in there but think Bowie's Low period plus a bit of Eno and Fripp and you'll be on the right track. The show is initially set in the 70's so that style of music is what I like to think would have been listening to then! I'll post some clips on the site soon. Other than that I've been doing a fair bit of advertisng work and have just finished big Bond-like titles/credits music for a new BBC factual show called Wonderstuff which will be shown later this year. I'm also working on the second series of a BBC children's show called Kerwhizz and writing tracks for a songs based album project which is going well. Oh and mustn't forget a documentary I scored recently for horror director Jake West called VIDEO NASTIES: MORAL PANIC, CENSORSHIP AND VIDEOTAPE. It's a great film so do try to check it out if you can.

Advertising

Lots of advertising coming in this year. I've just finished jobs for PKR and After Eights (pictured) which should be on tv now. More pitches this week so may well have more good news soon.

History Cold Case

I'm currently finishing music for 4x1 hour shows for BBC 2 called History Cold Case being produced by Shine TV. The show is a forensic investigation into the lives of various people from history and how they ultimately met their end. Musically it's a great mix of historical instrumentation with electronics, sound design elements and Eno-esque slowed down pianos and reverse effects. The show will have a 9pm slot and begins broadcasting in April 2010.

I Anna

I Anna is a new feature film that will star Charlotte Rampling and Gabriel Byrne, written and directed by Barnaby Southcombe and is a dark and twisted psychological thriller with adult themes and characters. I worked on music for a scene from the film that was taken to this year's Berlin Film Festival by the director and producers. The project received more interest than any other film at the festival by quite a large margin and because of this was featured on the front page of Variety Magazine. All is going well with pre production and filming will begin later this year. More news when I have it.

Update 2010

Long time since I've posted. Had a lovely Xmas break and since I've been back, 2010 has been really busy so far which is great. A mixed bag of film, tv and advertising as I shall explain..... Oh and most importantly the studio has a new Moog synthersizer sitting proudly in the corner. It is, as you might expect, filter-tastic.

News Update Oct 09

Sadly 13 has fallen through. Long story but basically things have come to a halt for various reasons and so the score I produced for the pilot will be archived and backed up for now, but let's hope it sees the light of day eventually. Better news is that The Taxidermist which I scored for Warp Films earlier this year has been submitted for Oscar consideration. OH MY GOD I hear you gasp but hold your horses there! For now it's one of a number of films that have to make it through two further selection stages before we can say that it is actually nominated but, well you know, it's exciting and what the hell, I thought I'd mention it even at this early stage. Obviously if the film does make the final nominations I shall be shouting the news very loudly from the nearest rooftop, so if you see a lunatic shouting on your roof you'll know what has happened. The films has been doing very well at festivals though including winning at Palm Springs.

2009 PALM SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL WIN FOR THE TAXIDERMIST

News just in that The Taxidermist, a film I scored earlier this year, directed by Bert and Bertie and produced by Warp X Films has won the main category at the 2009 Palm Springs Film Festival. This is the first festival that the film has been entered into and the win also means that the film is eligible for submition to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences for Oscar consideration!

Currently working on......

Just finished a new tv commercial for PKR. I have a new song writing commission in from the BBC and I've been asked to create a series of dark and experimental soundscapes for the forthcoming world tour of singer song writer Mika. The pieces I come up with will be played before the show and also between songs to compliment the set design and lighting effects to create an immersive experience for the audience.