Can you remember the first time a film score made a big impact on you?

I’ve always loved the 80s — the videogames, the movies, the music. Koji Kondo’s game soundtracks were a big part of my childhood and really shaped my ear for melody. That love for the 80s carried into my art and of course my band with synthpop influences. So when I first came across the movie Drive, it brought all that passion back. It opened me up to synthwave and made me really pay attention to synth-driven music and film scores. It just made sense — combining all my loves for the 80s into one medium: cinema.

How would you describe your style of composition in three words?

Emotional, nostalgic, otherworldly.

How do you balance your own musical voice with the director’s vision for the film?

I start by listening — really listening — until I can imagine the film as a sonic world. Then I bring my palette: synths, textures, and melodic sensibilities that feel authentic to me but are shaped to serve the director’s story. It’s about blending what they see with what I feel.

Do you write to picture immediately, or do you compose thematic material before seeing the edit?

I compose to picture. Sometimes I’ll sketch an idea ahead of time, but the real work happens when I see the actual edit — that’s when the music clicks.

What non-musical sources (literature, art, nature, etc.) inspire your compositions? 

Surrealism, dreams, the complexity of humanity, and our role in the universe. All of those things end up shaping how I write.

Top three film scores and why:

Fantastic Planet by Alain Goraguer — it gives the film the dystopian, otherworldly mood it deserves: dark, strange, and kind of sad.,

It Follows by Disasterpeace — powerful and haunting. It builds up like a dream and a nightmare at the same time.

TRON by Wendy Carlos — lush, melodic, transcendent. It feels bigger than life but still human.