BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
A quick visit to Anisha Thomas’ website reveals the following quote: “English is my second language. Music is my first.”
It’s an ethos that underpins the entire creative practice of this Australian composer-performer, who has launched Sound-how: a business providing screen music services to clients, but with a broader mission to support cultural and gender diversity in this industry.
Here, we chat with Anisha, who has spent close to a decade in working in the music industry to craft film and television music; and also holds qualifications and experiences in Creative and Cultural Industries Management.
She tells us about Sound-how and what she’s doing to advocate for inclusivity (including donating funds to the benefit of social causes); as well as a bit about her work scoring Three Feet Deep (for which she won the 2018 Made in the West Film Festival’s Best Original Score).
Anisha, an enormous congratulations for your success with Three Feet Deep. Tell us, how’d you get involved in scoring this film — one that qualified for an Academy Award?
Thank you so much! I first met director Rachael Belle Meyers in 2017, composing the score for her award-winning film Curated Illusions, and since then I have been composing for all her screen projects.
Our incredible collaborative relationship is something I feel truly lucky to have in my career.
I was interested to read in a statement that director Rachael Belle Myers said your soundtrack was “Hollywood quality”. This sounds quite impressive, but I wonder what this statement means to you?
Rachael’s praise of my work as ‘Hollywood quality’ definitely means a lot to me!
To create a score that is unique in its interpretation and style, but also of high quality in terms of production and craft, is what I believe you would expect of a ‘Hollywood quality’ score. It certainly proved to be an exciting challenge.
So talk us through the aesthetic, anyway. You’ve used rock, orchestral, and electronic music elements, which is a huge range. How is it that you felt so free to incorporate such musical diversity, and not afraid of the musical language becoming lost or inconsistent?
The creative choice to include the diverse range of instrumentation and sounds was definitely inspired by the film’s noir style and setting. The plot and the characters presented an array of tones, which is why I felt confident in combining rock, orchestral and electronic elements.
The film had a ‘grungy’ feel to it, but also a constrastingly emotive feel. What adds to the uniqueness of the film’s relationship to the music is that one continuous piece was composed to help carry the storyline.
Speaking of musical diversity — and how’s this for a fine segue? — tell us in your own words what Sound-how is all about.
What a fine segue indeed! Being a minority myself as a woman of colour comes with its own set of challenges, let alone also tackling the obstacles associated with being a screen composer. Sound-how was born through having these experiences, and feeling the urge to take action and help other minorities who were also facing similar difficulties.
I also felt a strong calling to further our diversity-driven missions by connecting with the wider community, which is why we extend our financial contributions towards social causes that directly assist minority groups.
You founded Sound-how in 2018, so it’s still relatively new — but you’re using it to make quite an impact. Though you already donate a percentage of your client fees to social causes, what is the broader long-term impact you’d like to make with Sound-how?
The long-term goal with Sound-how is to continually demonstrate the benefits of diversity and inclusivity in the entertainment industry.
We hope to continue to pave the path towards greater equality, and change the culture that currently exists for diverse industry practitioners in music.
We are also working towards expanding our contributions to the diversity-based social causes we currently support.
To take a step even further back, how do you think diversity — and inclusivity — can benefit the music industry as a whole?
Diversity and inclusivity helps us to stay relevant and unique by widening our perspectives, broadening inputs, and varying dynamics.
In order for the music industry to be sustainable, we need to work towards greater diversity, as it will help us to provide fresh and innovative ideas in the work presented.
What is it that you feel your clients have so far enjoyed about working with you?
What attracts our clientele is not only receiving great sound and music, but also knowing that by having us on board they are directly supporting diversity and inclusivity and minority related social causes. Clients are always excited to receive these multiple value points that they wouldn’t find elsewhere.
We do also have clients that leave with a new understanding and appreciation for diversity. This gives us the satisfaction that we are achieving one of our main goals, which is to promote the essentiality of diversity and inclusivity.
I feel like Sound-how is a perfect marriage of your talents in music with your academic and practical background in business. What’s it like working on a business while you’re also writing music? Is it a natural progression for you to be taking this role behind the scenes, too — even if it means you have a whole heap more responsibility and work to do?
Thank you! I definitely feel business skills for any creative practitioner are essential. Running Sound-how certainly takes it to another level, which definitely proved to be quite challenging at first. But my undying passion for music, in combination with what Sound-how stands for and strives to achieve, definitely helps me to keep pushing forward.
Anisha, as well as being an award-winner, you’re also an award judge yourself — you judged the APRA AMCOS/AGSC Screen Music Awards in 2019! What are you looking for in a good score, now that you know from your own experiences what it takes to make one?
What I look for in a good score is unique interpretation combined with high-quality execution.
However, ultimately, it must serve what is taking place on screen visually, auditorily, and emotively.
Any parting words for us, Anisha?
I know this is going to sound cheesy, but no matter how hard the going gets, don’t give up! Being a minority definitely comes with an additional set of challenges, but don’t let that ever stop you. Diversity and inclusivity is something we all need to address and work towards in order for the entertainment industry to be sustainable.
Also, stay tuned for exciting Sound-how updates, including a diversity-driven production music library that will be launched in 2020!
Learn more about Sound-how right here, and listen to Anisha’s score for Three Feet Deep below.
Featured image captured by Julia Luo.
