Words by Jim Ottewill

“Paints and microphones don’t go together. So when we record here, I’ve got to make sure I’m organised,” laughs Daniel Blumberg from his east London base.

This idiosyncratic music maker is unravelling the process surrounding the array of creative projects he’s amassed. While literally mixing music tech with art materials is calamitous, Daniel’s musical journey has seen him nimbly weave a path between both to fill the world around him with inspired sounds and visions. Previously a member of leftfield guitar bands including Yuck and Cajun Dance Party, Daniel’s solo work joins the gaps between songwriting and improvisation. His most recent projects have seen him apply this approach to the world of film composition, with Daniel writing the soundtrack to Mona Fastvoid’s film, The World To Come. Recorded in his London base, the score is the latest piece of work to emerge from his flat-turned studio, a place at the foundation of his creative output. 

“I’m lucky to have this domestic set-up to enable me to work. In London, you’ll always have problems finding space. So I’m really grateful for this. I sometimes wonder where I would be if it wasn’t for here.”

The term ‘freeform’ could be used to describe Daniel’s conversational style as well as his music and art. We’re talking via a mobile connection borrowed from his neighbour's Wi-Fi amid a flat strewn with instruments, recording gear and distinctive drawings. Film scores are the latest territory to be uncovered as part of Daniel’s creative exploration. 

“My love for film started when I was 17 and I found this Krzysztof Kieslowski DVD,” he says. “I picked up a copy of A Short Film About Killing just based on the cover, watched it, loved it and tracked down everything he had done. From there, I consumed more films than records.”

It’s been an exciting voyage of discovery for Daniel. Ever since he’s increasingly immersed himself in cinema including work by auteurs such as Kieslowski and John Cassavetes. 

“I was discovering all these exciting new films but the scores didn’t immediately stand separately for me. With Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Dekalog you can even get the soundtrack on vinyl. Still, I just didn’t initially pick cinema apart in that way.” 

Daniel’s debut solo record Minus was released on Mute Records in 2018 and was critically lauded for its marriage of avant-garde and melody. It was the ripples from the record’s release that led to Curzon Cinemas and the British Film Institute commissioning him to score Agnes Varda’s film season Gleaning Truths. “Someone at Curzon was really into ‘Minus’ and asked me to take this on,” Daniel says. “I had met Agnes Varda a few times through my partner so it all fell into place from there. It was really exciting making new music for a retrospective.” 

Already a fan of Agne’s previous output, Daniel was inspired by his love for her work to make something special. “Composing this was like writing a letter to Agnes saying how much I liked what she’d produced,” he says. “I saw the score as this weird mix of thanking her for these films and introducing people to her work too.”

This was his first score and it was during the process that he realised the shift of gear and focus required to move from his own singer-songwriter records to composition. “A lot of my records are all about me - which is the exact opposite of what film scoring is,” he says. “With these projects, it’s about doing something else for other people’s work. You’re trying to facilitate their vision which is what I love about it.”

American film director Brady Corbet is a key figure in Daniel’s journey into film. Meeting when Daniel was studying at London’s Royal Drawing School, the pair hit it off at experimental music hub Cafe Oto in Dalston and stayed up drinking until the early hours of the morning. They had got on so well that Brady invited him to attend recording sessions with Scott Walker who was creating the soundtrack for one of his films, ‘The Childhood of a Leader’. “It was really exciting to see the process at work,” he says. “From Brady’s script to hearing the music, it made me pay attention to the whole process.”

It was here that he first met Peter Walsh, Scott’s co-producer who would adopt the same role on Daniel’s soundtrack for The World To Come. “I really noticed how Scott worked with Peter. They’ve collaborated for more than 35 years and I thought there was some overlap with how I improvise. It was after this that my own collaborative relationship with Peter began.”

The World to Come came out of previous projects with Brady and Agnes Varda as well as hanging out in similar social and creative circles to director Mona Fastvoid. The story focuses on the romance between two farmwives in rural New York with Daniel’s score of woodwind and dissonance underlining the emotional ups and downs played out on-screen. “Mona is a good friend so I knew she’d heard the music I’d been making. It meant she had an understanding of what I was doing as an artist,” he explains of landing the gig. 

Daniel built an ensemble out of the musicians he has collaborated with over the last few years to perform the score. Clarinettist Peter Brötzmann, vocalist Josephine Foster, cellist Ute Kanngiesser, percussionist Steve Noble were among the players he brought together. Daniel’s way into the music for The World To Come started with a thorough read of the script and paying a visit to the shoot in Romania. He believes witnessing the filming in action ensured he was connected to the wider creative team. “I felt like I was part of an ensemble creating something special,” he says. “To see the set was important as they built it from scratch. It was similar to my work on it. As the composer, you’re building something new too. 

“The process was a new one for me but there’s a huge amount of trust at its centre. There are pressures with deadlines and administrative stuff which we had to figure out but it also had to nestle into how we worked as well.” 

Much of the recording took place in Daniel’s flat with some additional sessions at Visconti Studio at Kingston University in London. The recording intervals when the ensemble downed their instruments proved to be important in shaping the music’s direction. “With the musicians and the sessions, I found those moments in between playing were really important in bringing this to life. Someone might pick up on a texture or something you’ve previously discussed which informed the music. You lean on the things around you when you’re improvising.”

Working on The World To Come has opened up and pushed Daniel to hone new skills and methods in how he captures his music. From recording hours of the clarinet to coming up with new concepts, it’s been a process of evolution for him. “One of the coolest things about doing this was through the improvised sessions,” he says. “I’d record hour-long performances from clarinet player Alex Ward and Mona would listen to it when walking through New York on her way to the editing studio. If she liked a certain part, then we’d go in on this. It really helped us to find a language for the soundtrack.” 

A challenge for Daniel and co-producer Peter Walsh came in incorporating clarinets with a voiceover as both sounds occupy the same audio frequency. “If you listen to any of the records Pete’s made with Scott Walker, then you’ll know how amazingly skilled he is with mixing vocals,” he says. “We invested plenty of time into this part of the project. But it’s important to feel like you’ve covered all the ground you could have and it’s as good as it can possibly be.” 

Since 2012, Daniel has been part of the community surrounding London’s experimental music hub Cafe Oto. Located in Dalston in East London, the venue has proved to be an endless source of influence and inspiration. “Someone took me to a gig there and it was the first time I’d witnessed improvised music before,” he says. “I just hadn’t really been exposed to it. But as soon as I heard it, it tied a lot of things together for me. Back then, I was really happy with certain aspects of the drawings I was doing but was wondering if there were any more possibilities with my music.” 

With the recent release of The World To Come Daniel is beginning to look at what’s next for his music. Among them is the soundtrack to The Brutalist, the forthcoming film by Brady Corbet. Starring Mark Rylance and telling the story of an architect who moves to the US to deliver his masterpiece, it’s an ambitious epic delayed by Covid-19. “It means a lot to me as this is directed by Brady and the script is brilliant,” he says. “It’s also going to be called The Brutalist so the score really has to live up to this amazing name.” 

Daniel has already begun piecing together some of the music for Brady to shoot too although he’s waiting before going “full pelt” on the project. “I don’t like the idea of stopping and starting something as I like to really get into it,” he says. “But there’s that and some song material which is what I’m currently losing sleep over. Then the drawing is always all-consuming too. But because of Covid, there aren’t loads of people around here all the time. It means I can concentrate on working more and making noise.” 

Visit boiledegg.org to find out more about Daniel’s work.