\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t \tAt the 2020 Grammys, Finneas won his first-ever honors \u2014 six to be exact \u2014 for his work on his baby sister Billie Eilish\u2019s debut album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, making him the most awarded artist of the night. Attacca Quartet also won their first Grammy at that show, for best chamber performance on their album Orange, though the two acts didn\u2019t know each other.<\/p>\n
\tYears later, they joined forces to create the music for Apple TV+\u2019s Disclaimer, Alfonso Cuar\u00f3n\u2019s acclaimed thriller starring Cate\u202fBlanchett, Kevin Kline, Sacha\u202fBaron Cohen and Kodi Smit-McPhee. The musicians worked so well together, they collaborated on Eilish\u2019s latest album, Hit Me Hard and Soft.\u00a0 \t<\/p>\n
\tTogether at the Grammy Museum \u2014 where the Los Angeles-born Finneas and Eilish attended youth programs throughout their childhood \u2014 the Oscar-winning composer and the string quartet (Amy Schroeder, Andrew Yee, Nathan Schram, Domenic Salerni) discuss working together on the TV series and how Eilish\u2019s album was partly inspired by it.<\/p>\n
\tWhen did you all first meet?<\/p>\n
\tFINNEAS When I was working on this show, the reference music Alfonso was sending me was the music that he\u2019d been listening to while he was writing it. He\u2019s a real classical music buff, and so it was a lot of Bach. There was also some Vivaldi. I don\u2019t have a classical background, so that was a fun experience, and I started trying to figure out my way through writing music for quartets.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t[Composer] David Campbell was like, \u201cThere\u2019s really only a couple of quartets in the world that are playing this repertoire of classical music at the highest level, and I\u2019d like to use the Attacca Quartet,\u201d which I was unfamiliar with. But Alfonso is such a classical music buff that he was like, \u201cOh, yes, the Attacca Quartet,\u201d and he was very gassed on that. Once we were recording them, I was so blown away by how much they transformed the music, and I\u2019d been writing some string parts for the Billie album, and I was like, \u201cOh, my God, if they\u2019ll do the Billie album, I\u2019ll be so lucky.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\tANDREW YEE You\u2019re welcome.<\/p>\n
\tFINNEAS Seriously, what a night-and-day experience, the MIDI versions of the strings in Disclaimer, the MIDI versions of the strings for Billie\u2019s album, versus hearing these amazing musical humans play them, it\u2019s really amazing. [MIDI is technology that enables electronic instruments and computers to communicate with one another.]\u00a0 \t<\/p>\n
\tNATHAN SCHRAM Our biggest fear is not living up to the MIDI, so that\u2019s really good.<\/p>\n
\tAttacca Quartet, what did that feel like to get the call to work on Disclaimer?<\/p>\n
\tSCHRAM The funny thing is, it was a text message from David Campbell, who arranged a Christmas single for us the previous year. Actually, he doesn\u2019t know this, but we didn\u2019t really want to work with him at first. We had a friend that we wanted to use, and the label was like, \u201cNo, you should use this guy.\u201d We\u2019re like, \u201cAll right, fine.\u201d And then he was like, \u201cHey, I love you guys. Do you want to do this project with Cate Blanchett, Finneas, Sacha Baron Cohen and Alfonso Cuar\u00f3n?\u201d We\u2019ve never been so happy to have done a Christmas single in our life.<\/p>\n
\t \t \t \t\t\t \t\t\t \t \t\t\t\t\tFrom left: Attacca Quartet\u2019s Amy Schroeder, Domenic Salerni, Andrew Yee\u00a0 \t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRebecca Sapp\/Getty Images \t\t\t\t\t \t \t\t\t \tWhat\u2019s it like when you\u2019re adding music to a scene that\u2019s already strong? How do you advance the scene and be subtle at the same time?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\tFINNEAS There are many rounds, many cues where I\u2019d turn in something, a first draft, and Alfonso would express what he liked about it, what he wanted more of, and it was a back-and-forth. In that sense, it\u2019s very similar to all creative relationships I\u2019ve had with anybody: Billie tells me what she likes and what she wants more of.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\tThe scope of the show was vast, and there were a lot of pieces of music to make, and sometimes I\u2019d turn in a piece and Alfonso would be like, \u201cGreat, we\u2019re good there,\u201d and I was like, \u201cAre you sure? Do you want me to do it again?\u201d Other times, the first draft of something I would send in might have had something that he liked, but then his notes inspired me to do something else. I always knew that his waves and ocean would be really loud because that\u2019s his bag, so I was not in the dark about that. \t<\/p>\n
\tSCHRAM Were there ever any scenes that you felt like he would ask for music and you felt like it didn\u2019t need music, or vice\u202fversa, where you saw a scene that needed music but he hadn\u2019t asked for it?<\/p>\n
\tFINNEAS I scored a couple scenes that were kind of Hail Mary like. I wish I remembered specific examples, but yeah, definitely sometimes there were scenes where he\u2019d have some temp music, just so he was editing to something, and I\u2019d leave the temp. It would be so great silent that I\u2019d be like, \u201cOoh, well whatever I make really has to be better than silence, which is pretty good here,\u201d so it would be challenging occasionally. Good question.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t \t \t \t\t\t \t\t\t \t \t\t\t\t\tCate Blanchett and Sasha Baron Cohen in Disclaimer. \t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Apple TV+ \t\t\t\t\t \t \t\t\t \tFinneas, you\u2019ve worked on pop music and big film songs (Barbie, No Time to Die) \u2014 what was it like composing music for TV?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\tFINNEAS It\u2019s so different. Making an album is just thinking about how you feel and then writing those songs, it\u2019s like column A; then column B is making something that\u2019s a part of some other universe. I would categorize making the Barbie song with Billie in that camp. I\u2019d categorize the James Bond song, and composing, in that camp: You read a script or watch a scene in a movie and get inspired and make something that can coexist.<\/p>\n
\tIf we had written some other song for that scene in the Barbie movie, that wouldn\u2019t have been right. It might have had some value as a song, but it would have been like, \u201cAh, this doesn\u2019t work here,\u201d so I think that\u2019s No. 1 in terms of scoring something. I make something that I\u2019m proud of, but if it doesn\u2019t fit that piece, then I pocket it and save it for later. It\u2019s really about the task at hand, and the luxury is that it\u2019s really inspiring. Every new scene is a new thing to inspire you and to evoke an emotion, and I really lean on it. \t<\/p>\n
\tBillie has talked about how you both were experiencing writer\u2019s block, and creating \u201cWhat Was I Made For?\u201d for Barbie changed things for you.<\/p>\n
\tFINNEAS Yes. That\u2019s true. And also to the point of working on Disclaimer, it ended up being 88 pieces of music, divided by seven episodes, and several cues per episode. In terms of writer\u2019s block, you just don\u2019t have time; you got to get to work and make that next thing. Maybe you don\u2019t feel like a genius. \u2026 I almost never feel like a genius, but you have to make something because there\u2019s another scene to do. So I think that quality within quantity is a really important thing.<\/p>\n
\tI remember hearing something on KCRW or NPR about this experiment, where they had ceramicists, potters, and they told half of the room to spend an hour making the most symmetrical pot that they could make. And they told the other 20 people to make as many pots as they could in an hour. And all of the most symmetrical pots were in that pile. It was all in the pile of people that were making things over and over, and that made me rethink the way that I was working.<\/p>\n
\t \t \t \t\t\t \t\t\t \t \t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRebecca Sapp\/Getty Images \t\t\t\t\t \t \t\t\t \tWhat was it like creating Billie\u2019s latest album, for both you, Finneas, and Attacca Quartet?<\/p>\n
\tFINNEAS In what we felt was a positive sense, we wanted to reinvent the wheel. When we made that first album, it did so much better than we ever thought a first album could do. And then we had the pandemic right after that, and we had all this time to sit around and work, and we had a great time. The second album was our salvation during the pandemic; we had something to do every day. I don\u2019t know that we were as critical or careful while we made that album. I think we thought we were pretty awesome. There\u2019s stuff I\u2019m proud of on that album, but when I listen to it, it feels a little unrefined. \t<\/p>\n
\tThe real twin flame of this is that I was doing the TV show for the whole year that I was making Billie\u2019s album, and so I had this in the back of my mind, always working on the strings. I would work on Disclaimer right before Billie would come over every day, then she\u2019d leave, and I\u2019d work on it again. And so I really credit Disclaimer for being the reason that there is a string overture in that album. It is something we have always loved. The albums that we referenced while we were making this album were Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road \u2014 they have these motifs that return, and so it was something we\u2019d wanted to do. But I credit the show for giving me the learned experience of how to do it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\tYEE For us, it was such an amazing experience. We\u2019re super honored. We got to listen to the music before anybody else did in the studio, had it in our cars, just playing to Billie\u2019s beautiful voice and the beautiful music. We couldn\u2019t believe it in the moment and we wanted to do our very best. It was humbling.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\tI remember when the beat drops in \u201cThe Greatest,\u201d I think I ruined the take because I yelled, \u201cFuck. It\u2019s so good.\u201d And I came back, and I was like, \u201cThe album\u2019s going to be called The Greatest, right?\u201d<\/p>\n
\tFINNEAS It was in the running.<\/p>\n
\tThis story appeared in the Dec. 13 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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