Behind-The-Scenes of Scoring Mister Organ

Composer Lachlan Anderson takes you on a tour of a very bizarre instrument!

Hi,

I promised I would not talk about Mister Organ anymore, but this is more about music which you can listen to right now, wherever you are in the world.

Because one of the things I feel super proud of with Mister Organ is the score, created by kiwi Lachlan Anderson (from a wonderful band called Die! Die! Die!).

I am very pleased to say the score is now out for free, on a music streaming platform near you. For instance, here it is on Spotify.

I feel really proud of this — Tickled and Dark Tourist both used a variety of already created tracks. Mister Organ is the first time I’ve gotten to work with a composer to make original music. Original music that’s actually kinda great for a moody walk around the neighborhood, or a late night drive.

The cover art for the Mister Organ score.

Now, part of what makes this score so fun is this incredibly fucked up instrument that was custom made for the task — which we called “The Clamp.”

And I wanted you to meet The Clamp, as Lachlan walks you through how it works and sounds.

Here are some official words that we put out in the Mister Organ press pack:

To create the unique palette of sounds in Mister Organ, Lachlan worked with guitar pedal maker Ryan Nicol of Glacial Creative, to create “The Clamp”.

Anderson explains, “It’s an acoustic box with a whole bunch of discarded mechanical machinery such as typewriter parts, cranks, springs, traps, objects that make a strange sound when bowed, plucked, tapped or scraped. Fittingly the final result looks like an antique cash register from hell.

Throughout the score you hear things ticking away sounding more and more unhinged as we discover more about the Clamper.”

“I’d describe The Clamp as a terrifying but beautiful music box imported directly from the world of a Hellraiser film. The sounds echo the unhinged parts of the human brain” says Farrier. “The end result is a score that has you feeling sonically Organ’d (in a good way!) - as things are increasingly untethered.”

So yeah, listen now! This is one of my favourite tracks…

Also —

Thanks so much for helping spread the word about this documentary.

Mister Organ had a really great opening weekend here in the US, which means it’s now playing in a bunch of cinemas in LA and NY this week and next. From the 13th it’s hitting Austin, Chicago, Raleigh, Philadelphia, Miami, Vancouver and Toronto.

Boston, St Louis and Atlanta are coming soon too. And other cities.

DrafthouseFilms.com/MisterOrgan is constantly being updated — eventually with streaming details too — but we made this documentary for the big screen (with big Lachlan Anderson score) so get there if you can to support this thing that took six years to make.

GQ magazine wrote about it, meaning that I am clearly now on the same level as GQ regulars like Brad Pitt and George Clooney:

“It’s a Kiwi In Cold Blood for a car park Truman Capote—you’ll come away glad someone told this story, and relieved that it wasn’t you.”

As always, hit me with any questions in the comments… and enjoy the music.

Much love,

David.

PS: Some photos! First from our lil’ opening weekend tour if LA and NY:

Yes, correct - the moderator of the Q&A, Sean Glass, isn’t wearing a shirt and that’s OK.

The audience at The Roxy in NY

Okay, this is ridiculous and will never happen again.

Met lots of wonderful Webworm readers who were so kind and great!

Of course you have to get pizza in New York and this one saved me.

And some stills from Lachlan Anderson, our composer:

Lachlan Anderson in front of The Clamp instrument.

The Clamp.

Lachlan playing The Clamp.

Some custom art we had made for Mister Organ back in New Zealand, that now watches over Lachlan in his studio…