“If It Was Writing Music, I Wanted To Do It.” Interview With Composer Michael Abels for LANDSCAPE WITH INVISIBLE HAND

A frequent collaborator of Jordan Peele and many other credits (including Allen V. Farrow, Bad Education) composer Michael Abels is no stranger to the screen. In his newest work, Landscape With Invisible Hand, Abels creates an immersive landscape that allows the audience to be transported to this quirky, science-fiction world.

I was able to speak with the composer and we discussed how he got into this work, his process and inspirations, and specifically how he worked on this film:

This is Kristy Strouse with Film Inquiry: Thank you again for taking the time.

I’d love to start before jumping into this movie in particular: Did you always know you wanted to be a composer? 

Michael Abels: I always knew that I wanted to write music. And I tried when I was as young as eight, I remember writing some music. I had formal piano lessons, you know like some kids do. I was always struck with the idea that somebody thought this up, but who thought this up? And how did they do that? Because I was so fascinated with that idea, I thought, well, I have to try this. It didn’t occur to me that it might be hard or something. So in terms of the genre, or where I wrote music I wasn’t particular about that. I was just so fascinated by all the different genres of music. That was the other thing, not only who wrote this, but why does this style of music sound so different than that style? Especially when it’s all kind of the same DNA, you know? So, I would be mechanical, and sometimes take things apart and put them back together to see if they work. I would try to write in a style of music that I was interested in because I figured if I could write something then I would learn by making it. I wanted to write in every genre and every style and you know, film and musicals and pop music and orchestral music and… everything!

If it was writing music, I wanted to do it.

Do you feel the process shifts, with different mediums? I know you’ve also done shows as well as films, and you have an opera too!

Michael Abels: I have it at the moment, an idea. And that part doesn’t change, but the culture of it, if you want to write in a genre, or in a specific medium or whatever, you have to take on the culture of that. And you have to take on the writing style and the process of those genres to a certain extent. In doing that, then everything changes. I mean, what makes film music work is not what makes concert music work. There’s a Venn diagram, and it intersects, but they’re not the same circle. And I mean, I can give you like, some examples, it would be like: in film, the music often happens behind the emotion, meaning in time actually later than the emotion occurs. And that’s because we want the music to enhance the emotional experience, but not take it over. To me, when I’m figuring out the emotional curve of a scene, I will notice where the actor has the emotion and then I know that I need to follow the actor so I’m always trying to follow the actor’s emotional curve. In an opera, the music is the production, the music sets the emotional stage for what’s going to happen. So the music will lead, and then the actor sings into an emotion that’s been set by the instrumental music. So, that’s just one very geeky but key example that affects everything about how the music might go in different genres.

I love that and geeky is my language! A lot of our readers don’t know what goes into composing a film score. Is it a collaboration from the start or always after it has been filmed?

Michael Abels: I’m always happy to start as early as possible. Because ultimately at the end, there’s always a deadline, and it’s a time crunch. And you want any decisions that you can get made before the deadline so when you’re in the final phase, all that much smoother. In the case of Landscape, there’s a scene where there’s a wedding march played by an actor on camera, and it’s played very, very poorly. That was when Cory [director Cory Finley] first called me about this project. He said he’d actually needed the recording, to be used for playback on camera of someone playing a wedding march on like, on a really bad keyboard, and playing it really poorly. So it was super fun to give him that and have it be just as terrible as it is. From there, I spent some time working on it before they even shot it just a little bit. We had an initial conversation about using the Theremin and how it needed to sound like an old 50s sci-fi flick. But at the same time, it has to sound kind of wistful, and because it’s a romance and in one way I wouldn’t have been already getting ideas for it. And I just couldn’t wait for him to finish shooting it so I could, but the reason that the music mostly takes place in post-production is because ultimately, music takes place in time. You know, time is like the canvas for music. And until a scene is edited together, you know, you can read it on the page, but you have no idea if that scene is ultimately going to take 30 seconds or 10 seconds and that amount of time is the difference. There’s an eternity in music, so you have to wait a bit for them to figure out the rough cut before you can really jump into specifically how it’s going to go.

Very interesting. And you kind of stole some thoughts out of my brain! I actually thought that the score was very kind of otherworldly, but sweet. Can you tell us what went into this particular score and what you used?

Michael Abels: Sure. So there’s the most prominent instrument is a thing called the Theremin. A Theremin is this old-school electronic instrument like one of the original electronic instruments, used in the 50s, because that was one of the only couple of electronic instruments that even existed back then. I don’t know when it was invented, it was probably a little earlier than the 50s. But, it’s got this definite sound. It was used in science fiction in the 50s a lot because it was electronic. Then also there are operatic things about it that the Theremin has. Part of what you do with it is that it can slide between one note and another interval. So, that’s not a slide but if it goes, whoo.

It’s got a kind of warble sound about it. 

Michael Abels: Yeah, yeah. So that was big. It is so fun to use that aspect of a Theremin. And so deliberately, the melody lines will use that swooping sound. So that’s a little like singing, singers sometimes swoop up to their notes like that. So that might be why it sounds a little operatic. But then also, there’s one particular part where Adam finally goes into space. The big ball, the eight ball lands clunkily in his yard, and he has to climb in. There’s a big, very grandiose piece of music that is played on the pipe organ, which sounds like a giant church organ and it’s very grand and formal sounding. It’s meant to sound like that because it’s his big goodbye to his family, and he hugs them and he climbs in the capsule, it’s very ceremonial. So rather than use a giant, you know… Amblin Entertainment film style, with giant orchestral music that’s warm and sweeping. The whole point of this film is that everyone’s in a depression and nobody has enough of anything. If you think about an Organ, it’s only played by one person. It’s waiting for the music to sound big, and yet be small at the same time. There are a lot of choices in the score, where the percussion cues all have these funky sounds of things that could be made out of what the characters find when they are out scavenging from what the aliens had pushed off their floating settlement into the junk. This sensation that all these instruments are kind of randomly thrown together, I think fits with the vibe of the film. Everything’s kind of junky and abandoned in this world.

That’s so interesting. You do a wonderful job!

Michael Abels: Thank you!

Do you take a different approach to each film? Or are you always open to what speaks to you?

Michael Abels: Well, part of the fun of being a composer for media is that every project demands its own vibe to its sound. Even if you didn’t want to do that, well, why wouldn’t you want to do that? I mean, that’s really the fun of collaboration and telling stories and having each one have its own particular feeling and sound.  I have some ideas, and that focus may shift a lot on the journey. You always need to know what it is you’re trying to do. Therefore that part of the process is the same, but then you are like: are the things that we think are important, really important?

For this, it’s a sad world and it’s happy, but it’s a little bit sci-fi and it is a little bit wistful. It’s a rom-com, bittersweet. You take all of those things, and you see what music makes you feel like you’re somehow responding to all of those adjectives or those concerns. Then the beauty of collaboration is you have other people to go to. Like, “Hey, what do you think of this?” and that either confirms or sends you in a different direction. You’re on this journey and you’re not sure where you’re stepping next, but you know that eventually, you’re going to make it across the river. You might go this way, you might go that way. But ultimately, we’re going to come up with the thing.

I love that. And I know we’re running out of time, I have so many questions! This has been fascinating. In your life, is there a composer that specifically inspired you?

Michael Abels: You know, I mean, Bernard Herrmann is, of course, was a huge genius. He’s very inspiring. I also always loved Sergei Prokofiev who is a strange, surprising person for people to cite. But I don’t like answering this sort of question because it just leaves out so many different interesting, amazing people! I mean, Quincy Jones was a film composer before anybody knew him as all the things he’s now known for. He is the first African-American film composer that I’m aware of. I just find the curve of his life and everything that he’s done, and the fact that he managed to be a film composer, scoring films in the early 60s and all the things that he experienced… It’s just tremendously inspiring. So those are just a few names.

Yeah, I get that. It’s always difficult! When someone asks me my favorite film I can’t do it!

Michael Abels: Yes and it depends on what mood you’re in. Oh, for sure. Yeah. You wouldn’t want to watch one in the wrong mood. It wouldn’t be your favorite that day anyway.

Exactly. Well, thank you so much for talking to me. Wonderful time chatting, Congrats on the film, and on everything that you’re doing! I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day. 

Michael Abels: Thank you Kristy!

Film Inquiry would like to thank Michael Abels for taking the time to speak to us. 

Landscape With Invisible Hands was released in theaters on August 18, 2023.