By Lucio F
Lifted from the soundtrack for the movie ‘After Love’ by BAFTA-nominated director Aleem Khan, truly talented British musician/composer Chris Roe, shares his new stunning track The Cliffs and answers to our QuickFire Questions.
What was the first album you bought?
Coldplay – Rush of Blood To The Head. Loved them then and still do! I think a lot of it was because they put the piano in the spotlight, so I loved playing through those songbooks!
Who are some of your biggest musical inspirations and why?
Ólafur Arnalds and Jon Hopkins probably top my Spotify listening at the moment! I love how they create such a rich, textural sound and so much emotion from just a few instruments, and also how they treat instruments like synths and synths like live instruments to blend them together – at least that’s how it sounds to me!
What are some non-musical inspirations that motivate your music?
When I’m working on film projects, I find it really inspiring to see how to mirror the colour, pace, texture of the visuals in some way, as well as getting inside the character’s head and hinting at something musically that we maybe can’t see on screen. Outside of film, I’ve always found science to be really inspiring; more the big concepts rather than the details, but things like fractal patterns, life, and death of stars, etc. have inspired a lot of my concert music in the past.
Tell us about your new soundtrack album ‘After Love’?
This is one of the scores I’m most proud of to date, even though it’s one of the most minimal in a way. We recorded everything with just one instrument, the brilliant cellist and improviser Alice Purton, and took a lot of inspiration from the coastal setting and soundscape of the film, so lots of sounds imitating the wind, waves, seagulls. Everything stays really subtle and minimal until the final cue in the film ’The Cliffs’, which is the release of all the different layers which have been building up through the film.
What have you got lined up the rest of the year (2021)?
I’ve recorded a new EP project which I’m really excited to be releasing later in the year – it’s been bubbling away for a year or so, but I finally got some friends together in the studio earlier this year to record, so now we’re in the mixing stage. I’m also finishing up on a few big documentary scores which have been in the works for a couple of years now, as well as working on a nature series to launch the new SKY Nature channel.
Photo by Sam Collins
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