Hi Kormac, great to have you with us today! How are you and where are you chatting to us from right now?
Hi there! Thank you for having me!
I’m really good, thanks. I’ve just landed into my studio in the centre of Dublin city. I’m getting ready to record some drones made using a synth I don’t fully understand yet for a film score I’m working on.
Can you give us a bit of background about your journey in music so far?
I started off playing guitar, drums and making 4-track recordings and demos when I was in my early teens.
I then discovered, and fell in love with, music made using more electronic means – predominantly drum n’ bass and hip hop – and got heavy into DJing, turntablism and making music using an early Akai sampler.
After school I went to college and did a masters degree in Trinity College – both heavily focused on music technology and composition.
While I was studying I also made some records with a band I was a member of (mostly as the producer) and I released my first solo record, as Kormac, in 2010.
I spent the next decade releasing my own type of electronic music, largely based on manipulating my own recordings of acoustic sources and was lucky enough to tour the world either with my DJ and AV solo sets or with a large ensemble (drums, bass, brass, rappers, vocalists etc.)
Have soundtracks always been a particular passion for you? If so, what are some of your favourite movie soundtracks of all time?
I always found them so intriguing growing up – for sure. I was so curious about the process and it was forever in the back of mind that I needed to try this at some point.
One of the first to really stand out to me was Thomas Newman’s score for American Beauty. If you close your eyes and listen to a few bars of that soundtrack you’ll know immediately what film is playing. I think it’s hugely important to give a film or TV show its own sonic identity and it’s something I try to do whenever I write for picture.
There are way too many to mention Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by Alberto Iglesias, Mica Levi’s score for Jackie and Hanz Zimmer’s shepard tones for Dunkirk.
Can you run us through the creative process behind your latest album… were there any specific challenges you had to overcome?
I wrote this collection of music, initially, as a live show. I was commissioned to write the closing show of the St. Patrick’s Festival and given the opportunity to work with an orchestra.
Because I had this new palette at my disposal, I wanted to connect a little more emotionally with the audience than my previous work might have – a lot of which was aimed at the dance floor.
I rented a small house in the Irish countryside and just started writing and orchestrating and seeing what I could come up with. When I had some demos, I approached some vocalists and musicians that I either knew and/or was a huge fan of and started bouncing ideas back and forth from there.
When I had structures that I felt were ready we performed the suite of music live.
Then, a while after COVID hit, I set about recording everything: drums, chamber orchestra, brass, vocals – the lot! This left me with a massive, but really satisfying, mix job.
After this I also remixed the whole album in Dolby Atmos.
The concept from day one was for the listener to feel like they’re experiencing the show right in front of them in a concert hall and the availability of Dolby Atmos/Spatial audio really helps with this.
Are you back to touring now? If so, has it felt strange coming back to live appearances after the pandemic?
Yes I did some festival shows last year and we had our album launch show (with almost everyone on the album performing) at the end of last year, which was really special. The first couple of shows back felt strange – for sure. I was a lot more nervous than I usually would be.
During the pandemic there was a lot of talk about what things people would like to change in the music industry. Now that things are getting back to normal, do you see any major changes?
There seems to be way more shows and vinyl production seems to be getting a lot slower! I think the increased reliance on social media for marketing and promotion has been coming for ages anyway. I think the pandemic may have just increased the rate at which it happens.
What’s on the cards for you in 2023?
It’s a shameless plug but I’m really excited to have my collaboration with my amazing artist friend, Maser out now.
It’s a gorgeous vinyl version of the album with his amazing design. These will move quickly so I’d love you to grab one at kormacmusic.com or anywhere you buy records.
I’ve just finished the score for a 6-part drama series called The Diplomat that stars Sophie Rundle (Peaky Blinders) and is produced by World Productions (Line of Duty) that will be airing in February.
We’ll definitely be doing the full Equivalent Exchange show at some festivals this summer.
I’m also currently working on a documentary film for the New Yorker magazine and about to start another project for a big streamer and more music for my Always The Sound label – all very exciting!
