“I think creativity can strike anywhere at any time, so I often record myself humming ideas into my phone while out and about like a mad man.”
One of the most inspiring aspects of Disintegration is its stirring soundtrack. The one responsible for its creation is Jon Everist, a talented award-winning, ASCAP-nominated composer. He is particularly well-known for his fantastic work composing for Battletech (2018,) though he’s certainly due for plenty of new attention thanks to Disintegration’s powerful music.
I was lucky enough to get in contact with Jon, and picked his brain over his creative approach to composition/scoring. Disintegration’s Main Theme is perhaps the most catchy piece in the soundtrack. It makes use of a simple piano melody, followed up by the orchestra’s most impactful instruments.
Speaking to game director Marcus Lehto’s musical preferences, Jon stated that “it became clear he wanted to build the score off of strong motifs that were memorable. I knew Marcus liked to follow along behind the scenes during the writing process and enjoyed hearing sketches in piano - so I decided to lead our Main Theme with just that: a solo piano line in one hand, then playing the main theme motif before expanding with the rest of the orchestra.” As a trumpet player myself, I was happy to hear the theme expanded with heavy usage of brass instruments. “Big and bold brass was also high on his list, which is why I decided to record with a low brass cohort of 6 French horns and 4 trombones (including a contrabass trombone)” — heavy metal.
Overall, Jon claimed that the Main Theme “served as [their] starting point for how to represent the resistance fighters musically in the game.” Apparently, the first demo even moved Marcus to tears. “Composers live off of the tears of their clients! We are monsters.”
Although the Main Theme is fairly straightforward, the soundtrack features some intriguing experimental tracks throughout. Black Shuck, for instance, marries traditional instruments and modern synth technology. “The aleatoric strings in Black Shuck’s theme …were processed and reversed through my modular synths.” If you haven’t heard it yet — it’s both terrifying and amazing. “Using source audio from physical sources is always really interesting to me. There’s an inherent physicality in modular patches that just blend well with a bowed string.”
Regarding a preference between being given complete freedom or heavy constraints on a project, he replied that “both have their upsides and challenges, and both can very creatively rewarding.” This time around, he worked with Disintegration’s game director. “Of course, creative freedom is always rewarding, but realizing somebody’s vision can be too.”
I pried a bit into Jon’s general approach to composition as a whole, too. “For major themes I typically like to start at my piano with a pen and paper or a recorder and get some ideas down.” After the initial spark of inspiration occurs, he takes things to the studio. “In that process, I usually encounter a whole lot of happy accidents, where I realize another way of doing something, or figuring out a way to expand the harmonic progressions, or find some cool rhythm that propels the piece onward. It’s really a flow state where I’m just exploring ideas and solidifying the ones I like best as I go.”
Diving into his early musical background, starting with learning the drums, Jon admitted his love for working with percussion. “Similarly to my fondness of mixing styles, strings and synths, I do enjoy any opportunity to mix percussive rhythms together as I did in Black Shuck’s theme. He’s a chaotic character, and I found it fitting to allow his theme to make use of odd meters and polyrhythms.” Oh and speaking of Jon’s background, I had to ask whether or not we’d see a game soundtrack reminiscent of his early experimental hip-hop group Rudy and the Rhetoric. “Without giving things away too much, you may not have to wait too long to hear some hip-hop influences in some upcoming projects.”
As for what’s next, he couldn’t reveal any specifics quite yet (top secret information, of course) — but Jon did reveal that he is a part of multiple “VERY very cool projects that [he’s] incredibly honored to be a part of.” Aside from that, keep an eye out for his work on an upcoming “beautiful short film” created by director Jenn Tran.
This interview was conducted via email, June 26 2020. Check out Jon Everist’s music and work here.
