the sound of television

Yes, yes, the blogging is slow. But with a a journal article that needs to go out, a book manuscript that needs to be finished, administrative work that needs to be done, and some quality time with the other people in my life, there simply isn't much time to blog. But I'll write when I can.

With that in mind, enjoy this interview with Alexandra Patsavas, the musical director of "Grey's Anatomy," "The O.C." and, I would come to learn, a whole bunch of Roger Corman films. She talks to Kurt Andersen on Studio 360 about the thinking behind the musical selections for "Grey's". A few highlights: She says the show creators believe that sound should be treated as score, not as source music that simply sits in the background of the story. She also admits the show soundtrack tends towards indie rock, and has taken a liking to the music of Scandinavian artists, particularly from Iceland ("indie music from indie nations" she says). She says that she used to categorize her music according to whether or not a song would be good for a death scene, but as she says, "there's so much death on the show I now have categories like whimsical death or depressing death." It's interesting how those categories tie in nicely with the perceived emotional features of indie music. And she also likes Feist.

It's a funny thing about Feist, because the first time I heard her album I was sure her songs would appear on commercials or in soundtracks. That's not an insult by the way, there's just something in that music that has resonates. The one thing I'm trying to figure out why I thought that from the very beginning. Is it the smoothness of her voice? Is it the poppy 70's hooks in the music? Is it that the tone of the music works in such a way as to set the mood of the scene but not to overpower it?