Exclusive Interview With 'The Rings Of Power' And 'The Singularity' Composer Bear McCreary
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At New York Comic Con this year, our magazine had the pleasure of interviewing Bear McCreary. He has composed music for Percy Jackson And The Olympians, The Rings of Power, God of War (2018), and many others. He also released a new original album early this year called The Singularity. We talked to him about his composing process and his new album as well.
CS: Both seasons of The Rings Of Power are quite different, how did you approach the darker tones of season two?
BM: When I started The Rings Of Power season 1, I wrote all these things, and the advantage to working on The Rings Of Power is you have a general sense of where it’s gonna go. Now spoiler alert, it’s a bit of a tragedy. It’s a very different kind of story that happens in Tolkien’s Second Age which is the draw for me as a creator, for me as a man, and I think for fans in general. We see the setup for the story that will have a happy ending. So I knew that these darker tones were coming, and it was just part of the groundwork that I laid.
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BM: For example, in early season 1 you hear these chords when Dwarves are looking at this glowing thing. Well, that glowing thing turns into mithril, so that’s the mithril theme, but then as the show goes on and mithril gets used, Celebrimbor makes something and it becomes three rings, there’s this melody over these chords, and oh, that’s the rings theme. Then, in the end, Fiona Apple sings it, and it’s got this dark tone, right? It comes from the last shot of season 1, but then with that ready to go, it’s that tune that Fiona Apple sang, which is based on the Ring verse, it’s the perfect thing for season 2. And if anything is fun, it’s not making it darker, but making it more angelic, more heartfelt because Sauron is using Celebrimbor’s pride to get under his skin, to get in his mind, and that melody “three rings for the eleven kings” becomes seductive, like oh it's good, like “oh I’m good at this” “three rings for the elven king” that's a good thing, right? But the audience, the drama is feeling like “Oh I don’t think this is good”. So it's setting up with lightness so that when the time comes, you can bring the darkness back and it’s more devastating because you’ve heard these variations that are beautiful. Classic stuff, fun stuff
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CS: You have said The Singularity has been based off of a lot of science fiction/fantasy themes, did any of Tolkien's work help influence this?
BM: Tolkien’s work has influenced me since I was a kid, hugely influential. I would say Tolkien’s biggest influence on The Singularity directly is it would’ve come out two years ago, except I got hired on The Rings Of Power. I was going full steam ahead, wasn’t taking on new projects, and then I took this meeting and was like oh man I’m gonna have to do this show. So if anything, the influence went the other way. When I was working on The Rings Of Power season 2, I was like Tom Bombadil, I should bring in Rufus Wainwright, who was on my record. And then I’m watching later and the troll walks out and it starts brutalizing everyone on the battlefield and I’m like, I should bring in Jens Kidman from Meshuggah, who sang a death metal song, on my record, and I brought in the drummer, from my record, and the guitar player. So if anything, there is this cross-collateral influential lead, but so far, because of the timing of it, it’s actually been my metal record influencing Lord Of The Rings. As I work on new records, I’m sure there will be an influence going the other way.
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CS: What is your composing process?
BM: To me, it’s all about characters, telling a story, If I don’t understand the story, I can't write music. So whatever you can give me, to tell me that. Film and TV shows, like I can read a script, I can read pencil cards, I can read dailies, but I gotta see it put together. For something like games, it’s a little more complicated, because the game isn’t done until the 11th hour, but theres a story. Like when Cory Barlog, sat me down, and God Of War (2018), said this a story about an estranged father and son, grieving the loss of their wife/mother and he dying wish was to take her ashes to the highest peak in all the realms, and I go, oh I can do that, no problem. I haven’t done a game like this before, but I can do that. I know how to tell that story. So for me, once you know the story, the themes, like narrative themes, you’re in, you’re good
At the panel at New York Comic Con titled “Bear McCreary: Musical World-Building”, Bear moderated the panel which also consisted of singer/songwriter Rufus Wainwright, writer Mat Groom, comics writer and filmmaker Kyle Higgins, and award-winning cartoonist Ramón K Pérez. All of these creatives worked together to add different aspects to Bear McCreary’s rock concept album and companion graphic novel titled The Singularity.
In the panel, Bear and the others discussed their artistic journeys and how they ended up working together on this project. Bear and Mat explained the concept of the album and how the novel fits in with the story that the music tells. Rufus discussed how singing on this album differed from his work with Bear on The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power soundtrack for Season Two where Rufus sings the Tom Bombadil song.
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Rufus said: “With The Lord of the Rings project, I knew that I was entering into more of a known realm with a lot of opinions. Tom Bombadil is a very unique character, and it was an honor for me to be able to represent him. So, I think I was maybe more formal, shall we say, but with your project, it was just fun, and it was really exciting to see you so excited about doing your own thing that was totally about your own creativity and so forth. I wanted to support you because you've been such a good friend over the years. Our artists need to support each other.”
They discussed the life of the artist as well, and how the blank page affects them. Bear had this to say: “For me, this is what made The Singularity so scary, because I face a blank-ish page, but when somebody sends me The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power foundation, just glancing at it, my mind starts racing. It's not really blank, but with The Singularity, it really was something that I had to conjure up from nothing, and it was a really different feeling.”
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During the audience question time, an audience member asked Bear about his character themes in The Rings of Power. Bear described how he used different instruments for the characters of Elendil, Isildur, and Eärien. “The men in the family bring the power of Númenor, which is done in brass, – French Horn, solo Trumpet are generally Elendil and Isildur. Eärien has a Renaissance instrument called a recorder, which is the same as you played in the fifth grade, but it has a lighter, more feminine color. You don't hear it much in season two as her allegiance starts to change, but you hear it twice. You guys can hit me up online if you can catch where you hear it.” When asked if Bear had put any thought into the kind of theme we might hear for Elendil’s eldest son, Anárion, who we have yet to meet in the show, Bear answered: “Yes.” This is an exciting answer for fans because he’s still on board to do the music, and already planning what sort of magic he will bring to the soundtrack for the next season.
It was a really fun low-key panel and great to hear about the creative process of these artists and hear about the fun unique album and graphic novel: The Singularity.
Check out the interview here:
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