Joacim Starander Joins SMA

SMA Talent were proud to welcome Swedish composer Joacim Starander into the fold last month! Joacim is one of his country’s leading film and tv composers and has just completed scoring season three of Nice Drama’s 7-part series ‘Thicker Than Water’ for Viaplay. His recent credits include the feature ‘100 Years of Evil’ for Golden Eagle Films, which had a US release and the hit Swedish crime series ‘Hassel’ also for Nice Drama.

SMA sat down with Joacim to get to know him a little better. Here's how our conversation went...

Q> Can you tell us a little bit about your path into the music industry?

Joacim> Not so unique, I guess, me and my brother started a band. The music we grew up with as kids was a good mixed mold (Jean Michel Jarre/Kraftwerk, Stevie Wonder/Elton John among others) and having a baby Steinway at home helped transform what the ears took in, and what the brain and fingers got out.

The first synthesiser we got from our parents was a Casio CZ-5000. It did good tricks and had a sequencer but soon, for me, rock & metal grew on me after learning to play the guitar. Expression and raw power of metal live, on album and in videos, was something that had a huge impact on me. After a while, we signed a deal with a label in Holland and the album sold roughly 30.000 CD copies - not so much back in the daym definitely not enough to pay any bills!

After a while, I started writing music for commercials and product films. I started orchestrating and found that I liked that very much. Productions grew in size and budget so it started paying the bills. I slowly worked with music for shorts and more drama music, and eventually I got the opportunity to write music for a mockumentary. It struck a chord in me and left me kind of where I am today - writing for TV!

Q> How do you like to approach a new project?

Joacim> It all begins with the first frames I think. You can pitch for projects and describe a musical theme and vision, you can describe how the geographical place has an impact (if shot at a specific place), or the instruments of a specific time era and, hey, you might stick to it. But the first frames or scenes are always gonna tell you more about where the score is gonna land, musically. Of course, the director's vision is also key!

Q> What does your studio set up look like?

Joacim> Its very basic and standard. I compose mainly on piano and then transform it into what orchestral/electronica setup I want it to be. I use Nuendo 10 as a sequencer. Then, different sample libraries to build the music with. I have a cello which I play sometimes to get the right feeling of a score, its later often replayed by a real cellist because it's not my first instrument. Then some guitars and percussion.

I sit in a studio with 5-6 other studios under the same roof so sometimes I just go on a lending streak and end up back at my studio with a wind chimes, a tuba and a cuíca.

Q> Who are the composers/musicians you admire the most?

Joacim> In classical music, I have always had a soft spot for Puccini -Tosca is a masterpiece. Maybe it's the musical darkness that talks to me because I also am very fond of Mozart´s Requiem. His dark music is the very best, I think. Gustav Holst is great as well.

Popular music....I don´t know. There are so many great artists out there. I like pop music if I can sense that it's genuine. I listen mostly to Swedish electronic pop if I am relaxing and having a drink, like Kite or Robyn. But I could easily also switch over to extreme metal like Meshuggah or Behemoth.

In movies I have always had a soft spot for John Barry. I grew up with it, watching James Bond flicks from a very young age. What would Moore and Curtis be without John Barry in The Persuaders?

I think Hans Zimmer music haz changed quite a bit for the better in the last 10-12 years. Inception and Interstellar are great scores.

Its almost boring to hear this but I still get a kick out of John Williams. His mark on film history is of course well known but still epic.

The late Jóhann Jóhannsson and now Hildur Guônadóttir are favorites as well.

Q> What does the rest of 2020 hold in store for you (so far!)?

Joacim> Unfortunately, covid-19 has turned everything upside down, literally! 

I am involved in a start-up called Bandbond, a mobile app within the metal music community, bringing fans and band closer together. It's quite cool - we've got some great artists on board, and it's all done digitally so everyone involved in the project can work from home, sound and safe, tapping away at their code-keyboards.

I am also planning music for an eight episode TV-series here in Sweden at the moment. We'll have to see how that progresses considering the current state of the world.

As always, tv/film composers need material to work and once we have it...we tend to stay isolated anyway in our dark rat caves. I have my studio inside an old Gothenburg fortress from the 16th century. Yes, I have seen rats here...