2019 has been a great year for electronic duo Room8, releasing their long-awaited debut album Transduction and their score for the dark drama Cuck. Room8 was kind enough to answer a few questions, ranging from the release of Transduction, their composing process and influences, and, of course, their film scoring. Read below and be sure to give their newest releases a listen and give Cuck a watch (streaming on VOD everywhere)!
Releasing Transduction
The Film Scorer: First off, I wanted to say congratulations on the release of Transduction! I know it’s been in the works for years and delayed quite a bit, so it’s great to see it out. What did it take to get the album finally released and how does it feel to make an official debut?
Room8: Thanks! It took quite a different form from its original incarnation. We took stuff out added some newer material like “In a Subtle Way” and “Only You” amongst others. We also re-recorded and rearranged almost everything. We used only our hardware synths and fx to record and mix the album and made very little use of computer plugins. In the end we are happy it came out in the form it did and feel happier with the final result.
TFS: While working on Transduction, you released quite a few singles and EPs, often working with other artists. Did those change the trajectory of Transduction at all?
Room8: Due to working with some various people in the “music business” they delayed the release of the album for better or worse (although as we said before, we are happier with this incarnation of it and it expresses what we are about more accurately). The moral of the story, don’t listen to people in the “music industry”. But that being said we enjoyed making those singles. “Visions of You” was on the original version of Transduction and that came out first. We also started our collaboration with Stefan Storm from The Sound Of Arrows, which continued onto the new Transduction album, we really love both of the songs we did with Stefan.
Film Scoring and Cuck
TFS: Around the same time Transduction came out you were also working on the score for Rob Lambert’s film Cuck. How did your composing process differ between the two projects?
Room8: Scoring to film is something we really love and feel extremely at home with. We loved working on Cuck and were blessed to work with a director in Rob who really shares our vision and aesthetic. In the end the biggest difference between the two is that when you have a picture with emotion and story and sound design going on you tend to not feel like you need to do as much to create a finished piece as you do when there is no other information but the music. But really making our music is making our music. In the end making instrumental music vs vocal/lyric music is the difference. So the non vocal parts of Transduction were not that different.
TFS: My understanding is that Transduction was a sort of concept album, the soundtrack to a movie that doesn’t exist. This obviously gives you a lot of creative freedom since the “movie” you’re scoring is also your own creation. In comparison, did scoring Cuck feel at all limiting?
Room8: That is true. It is a concept album and we had kind of a loose expressionistic sense of a very surreal atmospheric movie in our minds as we composed it. Maybe one day someone will use it as the score to the kind of film it was always meant for. But scoring Cuck was in no way limiting. We felt we were able to bring an emotional aspect to the characters’ psyches which was invigorating and exciting.
TFS: Cuck clearly focuses on some controversial and salient issues. Did you feel any hesitation joining the project because of them? Did it change your approach to composing?
Room8: We never had any hesitations and we liked the dark humor and jarring nature of the film. The only approach we had to composing it was to bring emotional life to the characters and their story arcs and make the best film we could from a musical angle.
TFS: I’ll admit I was pretty surprised at how warm, almost gentle, your score for Cuck was at times, giving an almost dreamlike, fantasy quality. What inspired that approach?
Room8: Thank you and that’s true. We love warm and soft sounds in general which is part of our dedication to early analog and digital synthesizers and old grainy hardware reverbs and effects. The more dreamlike and ethereal while still feeling edgy and challenging is something we really love aesthetically. On top of that, the subjects of mental illness, lonerism, and trauma felt like they needed to have the yearning for unrequited love that lurks inside of them really highlighted by the music and that is what some of that soft, dreamlike approach spawned from.
TFS: How did you get approached to score the film and what was our experience working with Rob Lambert and the rest of the team?
Room8: Rob was a friend and fan of our work for quite some time and we discussed working together for a while before he approached us about scoring Cuck. The entire experience was honestly a true joy. The whole team was wonderful and organic to work with and Rob and Mike Turner (music supervisor) are kindred spirits who we seem to speak the same language musically with. We look forward to the next project with them!
TFS: Film music, and individual songs used in films, are clearly a big part of your inspiration. If you could have scored any movie in the past, what would it have been? Or, if you’d rather look forward, what would be your perfect movie to work on?
Room8: We do love movie scores and we love ambient new age synth albums. Some of our favorite past films are also some of our favorite soundtracks so we probably would leave them as is. In terms of our perfect movie we would love to work on, it would probably be something that incorporates our love of romance, surrealism, horror, vintage sleaze animation, fantasy and redemption. Mandy would be an example of the closest thing we can think of that came out recently and fits that bill.
Upcoming Projects
TFS: You’ve previously mentioned that you have some projects in the works, including film scores, but they’ve sounded pretty hush hush. Are you able to talk about any of them?
Room8: Well we are currently finishing up work on a documentary which deals with a scandal within the financial markets. Then we have another couple of films that are coming together currently but we can’t say much about those at this point. We are also working on our next album which will be an ambient new age fantasy with an a side of several pieces and one long piece as the b side.
TFS: Thanks again for agreeing to answer a few questions, it’s much appreciated!
Room8: Thank you so much for asking them!