Interview: 'Casual Vacancy' composers Solomon Grey

The miniseries adaptation of J.K. Rowling's novel The Casual Vacancy is now playing for American audiences on HBO after a U.K. premiere in February on the BBC. Featuring a score by Solomon Grey (Tom Kingston and Joe Wilson), a duo who also record as a band, the story has a decidedly different tone from that of Rowling's other famous universe: the world of Harry Potter. Featuring "a lot of classic composition with more modern electronic technique," it's another high water mark for a pair whose work in film is gaining a larger following every day.

I spoke with Wilson and gained significant insight not only into Solomon Grey's process on this film, but how they think as a pair and as composers. Very much collaborators, they succeed with the belief that "you can write brilliant music, but without a shared vision and an artistic language you won't get anywhere." With this as their guide they "ended up writing pretty much all the music you hear within the series. The music on the television in the background, the music coming from the other room, the music bleeding off headphones as well as the score."

How did this project start for you?

We got a phone call from Jonny [Campbell] the director asking us to come in and meet. He had listened to our Dathanna EP and was interested in how we would go about working on a project like this. We told him, and he liked it. Still can't believe we got it.

Once on board, did you read the book or just stick with the material as visual? Why, either way?

We read the book and then the script and then visited the locations. We wrote most of the first demos before filming had even begun. We were trying to eliminate the process of guide tracks. We wanted to provide tom the editor and Jonny the director with as much music as possible. It's a lot of work, but so worth it.

It becomes part of the language before any of the filming process begins. You are already collaborating and they are already thinking about the music within the story and it's not someone else's music. It's the score, already there, in demo form.

Did J.K. Rowling have any place in what the sound was going to be, or was your relationship with the primary creators for the series?

I'm sure she was made aware of the decision and heard it in all its different forms as we progressed through composing it, but almost all of our interaction was with Tom Hemings the editor and Jonny Campbell the director.

How did working on this compare to working on other film projects and working on a record as a band? Any difference?

It is a complicated beast sometimes. I find it fascinating how so much of our job is working with other people, understanding their point, vocalizing your ideas: trust, letting go and all those things that you probably do on a team-building weekend with everyone from the office. You need to be able to have an understanding with the director; it is vital. You can write brilliant music but without a shared vision and an artistic language you won't get anywhere. Even if it's monosyllabic grunts, if you know what they mean you are going to be half of the way already.

Band stuff is also like that because there are two of us. Tom and I have a completely different, but at the same time similar way of looking at things and most of the time it is about both being able to express ourselves without drowning the other person out because it all needs a bit of both of us. Working with other people is the same as a relationship, you need to put in to get something out and you also need to give and take. We love that aspect of our job.

Was the sound of the film always to be what became the end result or was that something that took shape while you worked?

Well I think they heard our music and wanted something along those lines. We laid down what we planned to do in our first meeting; there were a million other ideas we wanted to try and didn't get around to, but there is always that. I'm sure they had a number of composers at the beg, but maybe we ticked the majority of what they wanted. Not sure; you will have to ask them.

How did you apply your style to best suit the narrative? Why is your work right for this story and the way it's being told cinematically?

Well we combine a lot of classic composition with more modern electronic technique. Combining those elements can cover the more traditional part of British music and then also touch on the more recent aspects of our sounds culturally. We wanted to tap into that rich emotional memory that most British people instinctually have. The keys, melodies, harmonies and instrumentation etc. of our most popular composers like Vaughan Williams, Elgar, etc., and then also combine that with sounds you identify with our modern musicians. That was important to the story and the way it translated into the score.

We ended up writing pretty much all the music you hear within the series. The music on the television in the background, the music coming from the other room, the music bleeding off headphones as well as the score. We wanted to fill the whole world of the piece and give it a sonic identity. That means a lot more work, but we think it's worth it.

Is everything digitally constructed, or did you use organic instruments as well?

Half and half. We had recording sessions in a church with an organ. Strings, cor anglais, horns, vocalists, etc., and then lots of synths and programming. I don't think anything within the piece is completely one or the other. We even wrote and recorded the big band that Michael Gambon's character listens to in the cafe and books for his party in the final episode.

You're very thoughtful in the application of percussive elements — much more than just providing a beat. Where do you start when composing music? Is it with the percussion in mind or from some other point of construction? Is it different with every track?

Different with every track. I watched this interview with John Grant recently and he was speaking about the three or four different ways he starts writing a tune, and it was pretty similar to us. We sometimes bring an idea from outside the studio, a song or tune that is pretty much formed. We sometimes just bring in a vague idea of how a track might work and write it together in the studio, or we just start with a rhythm or a sound we like and progress from there. We always swap and change things, and specifically with percussion we have a few techniques and ways we change it as the track progresses. Nothing is ever really fixed. We just keep adapting and working until the time has run out.

Why do horns and string arrangements feature so prominently in the work — especially tracks like "End Theme," "The View," and "Revelations"?

We both play horns, and it is just a sound that resonates with us both. Even in the early days of cover bands we had horn sections and it's just always been part of our instrumentation. Strings just combine so well with all the synths we use. We try to create a wall of sound with synths and strings and this seems to convey the emotion. Can't wait to play it all live.

The track "End Theme" is hauntingly gorgeous. Can you speak to its production a bit? Why no vocals, whereas vocals are prominent, at the very least as part of the atmospheric aesthetic, on the other tracks?

Well it is the closing music for the film Gozo that we scored. It is a blend of that technique we just talked about and then some added layers. Prayer bowl, absynth synth. It definitely has a foot in the world of Vangelis, which we both love. We did actually try some female vocals on it, but it didn't work.

How did the song "Twilight" come together? It's original to the series. Was that an expectation when you came aboard or did it arise from the process?

We were always planning on writing stuff like that. We just had a good day and it came quite quickly. Immy, who sings on it, is my wife's cousin and we had seen her play a gig a few weeks before. The innocence and clarity of her voice was just what it needed. Reminds me a little of some of those young female vocalists on labels like Black Butter. She came in and we ended up using her first take. Jonny loved it and it was used very early on in the edit. Think we might be releasing the extended version soon.

You've released this score as the album Selected Works. Why not as The Casual Vacancy?   It's not all one score. We included some of our own band's music within the series, so string parts from "Firechild" and elements of "Last Century Man," "Miradors," and "Choir to the Wild" found their way into the soundtrack. After watching Spike Jonze's Her we were interested in how the soundtrack jumped from composed music to tracks of Arcade Fire, so we gave it a try, deconstructing some of our previous work and incorporating it within parts of the score. 

Also, there is some of our Dathanna EP and our other film score on Selected Works. It is a selection of our work over the past year or two. A kind of introduction to us in all our different forms.

Garrett Tiedemann is a writer, filmmaker and composer who owns the multimedia lab CyNar Pictures and its record label American Residue Records.

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