Aramis Silvereke is a composer born in Gotland. His impressive portfolio includes work on notable projects like "Felix & Åmanden" (TV-series) and "Julemandens Datter 3", and upcoming projects on the horizon in 2023 and 2024. Don't miss our interview with Aramis Silvereke about his music, composing and life.
Your childhood memory of listening to "The Lord of the Rings" soundtrack in the picturesque northern Norway setting sounds magical. How did that experience shape your dream of becoming a film composer? Growing up with a composer father and an artist mother, what other early influences or exposure to the world of music and art left a lasting impression on you?
Having been exposed to both the grand and mysterious nature of Norway and the music and story from films like the LOTR at an early stage has led to it becoming a part of my identity as a creative person. I've ever since been drawn to similar mysticisms, fantasies and themes that both the visual landscape and the fictional landscape are made out of. It really helped that I got exposed to a lot of sagas and fictional stories from my parents as well, wether it was reading fictional novels, watching films or playing videogames. Being raised mainly by my mother, and being close to her artistry and career really shaped my towards drawing and making art which I've seen as my main meens of expression for many years. I've drawn and painted for as long as I can remember and I would say my inspiration from Norway and LOTR first took form in drawings. There has always been sketchbooks and brushes laying around at home and the multiple times I've joined my mother to work. With my father I have many memories of moments in creative and musical environments, I remember tagging along for theatre rehearsals, recording albums and just general jam sessions at home. The exposure to all these different creative and (to my young mind) "mysterious" environments has slowly guided me towards my current film composer path I'm threading, and I'm very thankful for that.
You mention that you believe every unique story should have its own musical world. Can you elaborate on how you approach tailoring your compositions to match the specific narratives of film and game projects?
It is all about finding, understanding and connecting with the "heart" of the story. With that knowledge the first musical ideas usually comes to you naturally. When starting out a scoring journey I usually keep an eye out for scale. Is this a small or grand story? What is the size of the landscape? Do we have small or grand characters? Do we want the music go small or grand in these moments or do we want to contradict the image, story, etc.? For example, if a story is about a character with a depression in a large and beautiful landscape, we might still want to opt for a small musical landscape to accompany the character. But if we are in a small and trapped landscape with a character with a deadly illness but they see life with hope and energy we might want to bring life and energy to the music to portray their view on the world. Just like when Howard Shore scored the LOTR, he understood that the underlaying story of LOTR could be viewed as a christian allegory on the passion of christ, and he knew what Tolkien had in mind with his catholic background. Therefore Shore opted for a psalm-like foundation to the musical worldbuilding, thus using the full orchestra with choir and soloists, and in this case mostly matching size in image with size in music. When I know the size of the story and its characters I dive deep into melodies, harmonic texture and sound texture. Keeping in mind the other mediums of the film I start to look for textures. How does the film look and feel, are there lots of sounds or is it mostly silent, are you focused in on details or are you seeing the broad picture. To me it is important to work closely and experiment with these elements and decide what to match, contradict or ignore musically. Thus, over time there will be a rich musical landscape or world that go hand in hand with the story we are trying to tell.
Can you provide a glimpse into your creative process when you start working on a new film or game score, from the initial concept to the finished composition?
When tackling a new project I love to have discussions about the film, story, and films and music in general. I feel this warms up the brain before the working wheel starts turning. When starting to compose music, and depending on the project, I like compose themes or create musical/sound textures. I tend to create many tests and experiments in order to find and locate musical ideas that can, again, go hand in hand with the "heart" of the story. It is usually a process, similar to sculpting with clay I would say, where you start broad and work closer with details towards the end, always striving toward that main idea you had.
You've explored a wide range of musical genres and timbres, from neoclassical and orchestral to jazz and electronic. How do these diverse influences inform your unique musical style?
Having a wide range of musical genres and tembres in my arsenal is great for me as a film composer as I have more to draw from when creating unique musical worlds. There are many textures, harmonies and approaches to combine and experiment with which makes it all the more exciting. Even though I have worked a lot with string instruments and piano, which could be described as a style, these are just some instruments I like and think are rich in texture. Over some time I have realized that my "style" in music is in some parts the way I combine melodies and harmony into one, which has to do with my background in theory, contemporary art music, classical music, jazz and pop/rock. When making musical worlds it is interesting to find these unique combinations. For example in a recent project I used the combination of electric guitar with the tremolo effect together with celeste, vibraphone & kalimba to create a unique texture to a light drama/comedy film.
Your work spans film, TV, documentaries, game scoring and personal pieces. How do you adapt your approach when composing for these different mediums, and do you have a favorite among them?
I love all these mediums, but they all come with their own charm which is why I am drawn to all of them. Composing to video games for example is very rewarding musically as you usually have more free reigns when it comes to time and size, you can usually write more music and allow the music a bit more space compared to film. Then you also have the interactive aspect of gaming which makes the process all the more interesting since you can elaborate on the narrative this way too. The charm with working on films is that it is linear and requires a detailed and nuanced approach to applying music to picture while working closely with story which is magical. However the music have less space it can take. When it comes to personal pieces you can really do whatever you want and experiment. Sometimes it is nice to have maximum freedom, but sometimes some clear frames is giving to work with too.
What upcoming projects are you most excited about, can you offer any hints about the musical direction you plan to take in the future?
The projects I am looking forward to the most are a few feature films I'm doing. These films have rich stories with great characters and themes and I feel honored that I get to put music to them. What I can say is that I am definitely looking to create rich and unique musical worlds to go with these stories, testing new grounds musically and experimenting with new textures. I can't wait to share more.
Finally, from your perspective, what is the meaning of life?
To me, the meaning of life is to find poetry in nature, seek solace in yourself and give kindness and compassion to others.