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His profile has soared since composing the ear-catching theme for the hit HBO series The White Lotus, but Cristobal Tapia de Veer has been generating inventive music for film and TV for a long time.
Chilean-born composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer speaks with Tony Stamp about his career
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Cristobal never expected to write for the screen. After high school, he studied classical music in Quebec and then made pop with his band One Ton.
But when a friend asked Cristobal to write the score for their documentary that the Montreal-based composer’s career suddenly changed.
"The world of film and TV is very closed. It’s very hard for musicians and managers to enter that world. You have to get lucky."
In recent years, he’s garnered accolades for his scores and a recent boost in profile for The White Lotus season one and two themes.
Tony Stamp: You have a masters in classical composition and went on to work on pop and dance music, and your soundtrack work is almost a marriage of the two.
Cristobal Tapia de Veer: Even when I was studying classical music at the conservatory [the Conservatoire de musique du Québec], I had bands on the side, and we would jam anything from heavy metal to pop music, sometimes even jazz. I was doing all kinds of stuff, which is maybe why the soundtracks have those influences.
The White Lotus season two has just wrapped and there’s been a lot of positive response to your re-worked theme. I'm wondering if you've seen the clips of it playing in clubs and at festivals?
Yeah, it’s kind of moving, I suppose. You don’t expect something like that. It’s fun seeing a crowd of people singing the melody - I had some goosebumps thinking about that.
I wondered if it was the European setting of season two that made you decide to add a house beat to the theme this time?
More or less. I just wanted the energy to explode at some point, and the club sound felt appropriate. It fits really well with the classical sounds - the harps and soprano opera music. For some reason, it feels right. It’s a good blend.
Mike [White, the show’s creator, writer and director] did say it could be interesting to have some Italian influences, that’s [what prompted] the renaissance vibe a little bit. But at that point, I didn’t know the story.
The main vocal sound that you used in the season one theme is so distinctive. Did you re-record that sound for season two or just pull up the same patch?
It’s the same basic sound, I’m just playing different notes.
That’s a nice bit of continuity between seasons then.
It’s similar in many ways, like rhythmically. So it sounds almost like the first season, but the notes are not the same.
I believe we have Kanye West to thank for putting you in a situation where you came up with that sound.
Yeah, I was supposed to work with him. I came up with that vocal line when I was in the hotel waiting to go work at his place. I was coming up with interesting things that I thought he might like. So I suppose he was an influence.
But you didn’t end up working with him. In hindsight maybe it's a good thing that didn't happen.
Yeah, this was just before he came out of the closet as a Donald Trump supporter. It was very chaotic.
I really like a quote you gave to Slate about season one. You said, "Sometimes it feels like the music is laughing at the characters". When you compose these scores, are you usually working from finished footage or from scripts, or a blend of the two?
Generally, I start with the script and whatever talk I have with the director and producers. You're never sure what’s going to work or not, so when I get the images I might have to try [different things].
Then I spend some time jamming by myself so that maybe more abstract ideas come out that might fit really well with the image. So it’s a blend of working from the script, from the image, and improvising.
Your score for the 2013 show Utopia really blew me away, and I especially love the sound that's like a human voice but slides between notes like you're playing it on a keyboard. You clearly love to manipulate vocals, is that something that keeps inspiring you?
Yeah, The White Lotus is exactly the same technique. I’ve been doing the same thing since Utopia. It became like an instrument, like my guitar or something. I always have to play with voices - play them that way with a keyboard. I’m familiar now with that sound and with the emotion that human voices bring.
You worked on the horror films Smile and The Girl With All the Gifts, and you're very good at conjuring a sense of dread, or an ominous feeling. You do this in The White Lotus and Utopia too. Is the horror genre something you're attracted to?
It’s definitely one of my favourite types of movies. I’m always looking for new horror movies. I suppose I like making creepy sounds, but I wouldn’t want to specialise in horror movies. I like exploring all emotional avenues, but horror is very dear to me. It’s so much fun making creepy ambiences and sounds, it’s an interesting journey.
You've won two Emmys and a Bafta, there's been a really enthusiastic response from the public, and I'm guessing you're quite busy. What gets you to say yes to a project?
It’s instinct, I suppose. It’s very important that I’m going into an adventure, so it has to be a collaboration. If it feels like I’m just doing a job, then I’m not able to do those projects. It has to also feel personal, like a personal quest.
Is there an average amount of time it takes to complete a score, or is it quite changeable?
It’s hard to recall because it’s such a 24-hour thing, where I’m always thinking about it. For Utopia I spent six months in the UK, then another four in Canada. Those types of shows could easily be ten months.
If you're thinking about it 24 hours a day, do you struggle to switch gears between projects?
It’s good to have some time between projects, but I find if I’ve been off too long on a break, I feel rusty when I start another project. It feels like something you have to keep exercising.