Son Lux with Dan Deacon

On this week's Talkhouse episode we’ve got four guys who have tons in common—including lots of soundtrack work— but who, surprisingly, hadn’t met before. It’s Son Lux and Dan Deacon.

Son Lux started out as the solo electronic project of Ryan Lott back in 2008, but by 2015 he’d been joined by fellow travelers Ian Chang and Rafiq Bhatia, expanding the group’s sound into something reviewers loved to call both “dense” and “orchestral.” So it makes sense that the trio would find its way into writing and performing scores for film, and they got a huge, high-exposure job with the massive Everything Everywhere All At Once. The film’s score involved a hundred cues and some killer collaborators, including David Byrne, Mitski, and Andre 3000. Nominated for an Oscar, it naturally led to other film-world work, including the score to the superhero movie Thunderbolts. But that hasn’t stopped Lott, Chang, and Bhatia from itching to write original Son Lux music, and last month saw two big releases—one the score to a new movie called Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother and then a brand new Son Lux record called ⁠Out Into⁠. Check out “Want You To Love” from that record ⁠right here⁠.

The other half of today’s chat, Dan Deacon, has gotten so busy with scoring films and TV that he hasn’t released an artist album since 2020—as you’ll hear in this chat, he’s reasonably content with those circumstances, though he does plan on getting around to it. Deacon found audiences in the early 2000s with frantic live shows of his experimental electronic pop, and his entrance into the scoring world was incredibly strange, another story he recounts in this conversation. A blind email from Francis Ford Coppola led to his first job, but that movie—called Twixt—put him off soundtrack work for a while. He’s since become a staple in the scoring world, though, with a bunch of projects coming out right around now, including a new soundtrack for a documentary called Great Photo, Lovely Life.

In this lively conversation, the three members of Son Lux and Deacon talk a lot about creating music for other projects versus making their own records, including some interesting behind-the-scenes thoughts on how music gets used in movies versus, say, bus noises. Also, is every director the equivalent of Wormtongue from Lord of the Rings? Probably not. Enjoy.

0:00 Intro

02:52 Start of conversation & how often they put out albums

03:38 On work schedules, confidence, and momentum

05:46 On Dan’s solo and collaborative scores, music editors, and documentary scores

08:28 On how they got into scoring movies, how scores differ from other music, and working with Francis Ford Coppola

12:40 On improvisational and collaborative scores, and how scores influence their own projects

15:20 On the Venn diagram of creativity in film scoring, their record processes, and bad mixes in scores

19:37 On the dub stage of scoring and Everything Everywhere All At Once

23:08 On Dan’s future music plans, creative pressure, and exploring the ideas and skills Dan discovered through scoring

28:40 On writing songs, and why directors/composers are like Lord of the Rings characters

31:49 On Justin Vernon’s writing process and if records need stories about their process

33:03 On the pros and cons of touring

35:41 On Son Lux’s new album and upcoming score, and Dan’s crazy schedule for scoring Venom

38:20 On good manager relationships, and wanting people to find their new music

41:12 On future regrets, letting go of stress, types of fun, and making plans to check in again

Thanks for listening to the Talkhouse Podcast, and thanks to the guys from Son Lux and Dan Deacon for chatting. If you liked what you heard, please follow Talkhouse on your favorite podcasting platform, and check out all the great stuff at ⁠Talkhouse.com⁠. This episode was produced by Myron Kaplan, and the Talkhouse theme is composed and performed by the Range. See you next time!

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