Martin
Smoge

The composer

My work includes music for Havfolket, Marerittet / NightMare and the TV series Quisling and Evilside.

My earliest musical memory is of a keyboard I could barely see over. I was about six, pressing the black and white keys. When I tried just the black ones, it sounded like a melody.

I’m a Norwegian composer and producer working with film, television and concert music. Often, music starts forming while someone is telling me about a project for the first time. A phone call can suggest an entire musical landscape I hadn’t imagined before.

Finding the right sound takes longer. I work slowly with themes and spend a lot of time thinking about the characters away from the studio. A melody might arrive while I’m cooking. Even the creak of my garden gate can leave me wanting to finish the phrase. As I get to know a film, those everyday discoveries begin to belong to its world.

I want the music to feel natural to the film, as though it was always meant to be there. The performances are often my way in: an actor has put something of themselves into a scene, and I get to respond through music.

That response needs room for play. Whether I’m composing to picture or conducting my own work, I want to stay open to what I hear, to slow a passage down, follow an unexpected idea, or let a moment take a different shape.