(Welcome to “Notes on a Score,” GVN’s interview series highlighting the composers and musicians behind some of the year’s most acclaimed films and television series.)
Television fans are in for a double dose of Tom Howe this year. Many of us have our eyes glued on the third and supposedly final season of Ted Lasso, but the British composer also provided music for a brand new comedy, Shrinking, which wrapped its first season back in March and is already in production on a second. The series follows Jimmy, played by Jason Segel, a therapist struggling to keep it together a year following the death of his wife, Tia, played by Lilan Bowden.
Unlike Ted Lasso’s fish-out-of-water mix of midwestern charm and British cheekiness, Shrinking is firmly set against the sunny streets and canyon trails of Los Angeles, California. Howe wanted the the show’s sound to match and took inspiration from Californian music, specifically The Beach Boys.
“I messed around with a lot of vocal stuff and did lots of stacking harmonies,” Howe explained, Zooming with us from his home studio. “I actually got a 70s [drum] kit and guitar amps and a microphone that all feel like they’re from that era. I wanted to have something authentic.”
The score features a wide array of sounds and instruments, from a fluttering organ to filtered marimba tones. Howe wanted to experiment with a variety of unique ideas to complement the show’s quirky characters without sacrificing audiences’ emotional investment. “I wanted [the score] to have a couple of colors that sounded a bit left of center because his character is off the rails but not in a way where he’s someone you dislike. There’s something a bit off, but you’re rooting for him.”
Howe’s work on Shrinking also includes a distinct character theme that represents the grief Jimmy is experiencing through the show. “There’s this piano tune that you hear every time we flash back to Tia and across scenes with Jimmy. I sneak it in all kinds of places as well in counter lines and other cues.” You can hear it in tracks like “That’s All We Get” and “Flashback Fight.”
Now that there will be a second season, Howe anticipates writing even more character themes. “I will have the opportunity to explore other characters because I’ll have earned that through a whole first season. I’ll probably go off and explore themes for everybody else.”
Howe compares this to how he’s approaching Season 3 of Ted Lasso, which, at the time of the interview, he was still hard at work on. “I’ve just received a locked cut of Episode 11,” he mentioned. “I’ve done a couple of bits in it, but I did them to an earlier cut.”
“When you get a show for the first season, you watch it and go, “Oh my god, what am I going to do? What’s the sound? What’s the theme?” But in [Season 3], I’ve got the themes for everybody, so when I watch a scene, I already know what the theme is. It’s almost like I’ve got to work out how to arrange it. That’s quite a different but exciting mindset because it makes it a very fun process.”
Howe sat down with GVN to talk about the Californian sounds of Shrinking, what fans can expect from Ted Lasso, and the art to a good in or out-cue. Don’t know what those are? Read on and find out!
The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Shrinking sees you again collaborating with Bill Lawrence, co-creator of Ted Lasso, and these shows do feel a bit like musical kindred spirits. It must not have been a surprise when he asked to collaborate again, but what were the initial discussions like in terms of how the music would sound?
There was actually quite a lot of discussion about what it was going to sound like. Initially, I got a script of the pilot. He said to me, “Just have a think about this.” At that point, I didn’t know Harrison Ford would be involved. I found out about a month after he sent me the script that Jason Segel was involved. I knew that Brett Goldstein [writer on Ted Lasso] was involved, but I read it and then he sent me a [message] saying, “Harrison Ford’s on board,” and I was like, “Wow, this is going to be big.” Then I went away and I started tinkering around. I tried all kinds of things, but I then decided after conversations with Bill and Kip Kroeger, who is one of the other producers, that maybe the sound should feel rooted in California. Whereas Ted is a bit more Transatlantic, somewhere down the middle between a British sensibility mixed with middle America, this felt like it was going to have more of a California sensibility. I started listening to lots of bands, but obviously, when I think of California, I think of the Beach Boys.
Absolutely.
So, I messed around for a long time with a lot of vocal stuff and did lots of stacking harmonies and other things. I also started trying to get a drum sound that was a bit more vintage. I actually got a 70s [drum] kit and guitar amps and a microphone that all feel like they’re from that era. Not that I wanted, then, to accompany that with a lot of hiss and stuff and have it all in mono or anything like that, but I wanted to have something authentic. Then, also, the organ. That is in a lot of the cues and I particularly messed around with the rate of flutter on it. There’s a lot of movement within even one held note on the organ. Once I got the vocals and drums and organ down, that felt like what the show should be. I worked hard on trying to get those elements right and then trying to put those instruments into most of the cues. You can’t then go and use an acoustic guitar, but if you do, I still want it to be accompanied by something that’s within that other wheelhouse so it does feel a bit different than Ted or anything else.
Then, I wrote a theme, which I did on the piano. In the same way that Ted Lasso’s first season has a “Ted” theme and [an “AFC Richmond”] theme that are one and the same, really, there’s this piano tune that you hear every time we flash back to Tia [Lilan Bowden] and across scenes with Jimmy [Jason Segel]. I sneak it in all kinds of places as well in counter lines and other cues. It has a descending part which is a B-section and it has the main melody that you recognize as the A-section. Now that we got a second season, I’ll probably go off and explore themes for everybody else, but I wanted to cement an idea of a theme that I could work from, that could bend and be malleable.
That was such an amazing breakdown, thank you. You’re talking about so many of these different instruments and different sounds. What goes into deciding which instruments are good for one scene versus another?
I knew I didn’t want anything to be too morose. Obviously, sometimes things are emotional and pulling on the heartstrings, but there’s nothing in there that’s particularly dark or overtly “sad sad.” Even when it’s emotional, I’m using major chords a lot of the time on the piano. I made a conscious decision about that. I tried to make any sound that I [used] something not really recognizable. For instance, in some of the cues, there’s actually a marimba put through a crystallizer and a couple of filters. I wanted it all to sound a bit quirky. Even in the vocals, on the comedy cues where they come in, you don’t normally use vocals like [how I used them], doing those short “ah, ah” [rhythms]. I wanted them to have a couple of colors that sounded a bit left of center because his character is off the rails but not in a way where he’s someone you dislike. That’s the thing. There’s something a bit off, but you’re rooting for him.
What is the relationship between the score and the edit? Clearly, you were already starting to work with things before they even started shooting, but did you start to implement things when the picture was locked or was there more of a relationship there?
In truth, that changes from project to project and even within a project depending on time. The edit is always first. What I mean by that is I’m still working on Ted Lasso, and I’ve just received a locked cut of Episode 11. I’ve done a couple of bits in it, but I did them to an earlier cut, so now I’m getting a locked cut and whatever I do will be to that sync. It’s more common, and in the case of Shrinking, I would get quite a few turnovers because the conversation had started that much earlier. In a couple of instances, I didn’t even get a full assembly. I’d get a sort of, “Hey, we’re working on this sequence. What do you think?” And then I get sent something and we go, “Hey, maybe it could be this.” And try something very rough and say, “How does that feel?”
There was a lot of back and forth in a good way. The beauty of being on something very early is that if you come onto a show, which I have done in the past many times, and it’s right at the last minute, you have to make a decision and go for it because there just isn’t any time, but I had a lot of time on [Shrinking]. You’ve got enough time to come back from being down a path and go down another one without anybody getting really worried.
I would love to hear more about collaborating with Bill [Lawrence]. From the sounds of it, since you were brought on so early in the process, there must be a really strong collaborative relationship there.
There is. We’ll spot the film together, so even if it’s not the locked version, we have a schedule. I’ll go onto the Warner Bros. lot where Bill’s got his office and we’ll sit in a room with the editors, the people doing sound, the music supervisor, the music editor, Bill, Kip, and we’ll play it through and we’ll stop it every 90 seconds or two minutes. We’ll talk about whether one scene needs music and, if it does, what should it be? Is it helpful just to get from A to B or are we trying to give an underlying feeling for this character? There’s a lot of back and forth. That’s one of the reasons I love the job, actually, because I don’t want to write music in a bubble. If I did, I’d go and write concert music, but I want to write something that works for the picture and for the filmmakers. I want to work with other people and make it the best that it can be, so I love being in a room with the filmmakers and having those discussions and then going away and problem solving.
Is there something especially fun about collaborating with Bill? This is a guy who’s left an indelible mark on television and is still creating. Is there something special about getting to work with him, musically?
Yes, because not including Ted, I’ve done three other shows with him. He’s obviously got a history. He’s done some of the best shows ever made on television. Scrubs was something that I just binged and loved. I still watch it and I think it’s great. What’s good about someone who’s as successful and experienced as Bill is that he has an opinion when he needs to. He’s very trusting. We might watch a scene and he might say to me, “I think maybe this should swell here. What do you think?” Then sometimes we’ll watch the scene, and he’ll go, “You know what you’re doing,” and that’s the conversation. I love that because he’s putting his trust in you to get it right. If he doesn’t have a strong view on it, he expects you as the music person to come up with a solution. When he does have a strong feeling about it, he lets you know. Both are incredibly helpful.
So much of your scoring work on Shrinking and Ted Lasso is in-cues and out-cues, pieces of music that transition into, out of, and between individual scenes. It may not be something most people pick up on, but it’s an art form in and of itself. As someone with extensive experience, what is the key to a really good in or out?
Sometimes it’s difficult, I find. I’m sure lots of people would disagree, but I find it as hard to write 15 seconds of music as I do 15 minutes. If you’ve got 15 minutes, you’ve got a lot of time to say what you want to say. If you have an idea, you can arrange it over time – move it around instruments and maybe change keys. It’s still difficult, but you have time to say what you’re going to say. When you’ve got 15 seconds, and particularly if you’re trying not to make everything sound like stings, it can be difficult to get your idea down in a succinct way and in a way that doesn’t feel too…[imitates traditional, cheesy comedic sound cue]. It takes a lot of figuring out.
I spent a lot of time with Kip and Bill and Richard [David Brown, music editor] working out the inpoint of a cue and the outpoint of a cue. I might finish it and say, “It’s too short. It now feels too like a sting. I think we should make it longer” or “I’m going to join those two cues together so they feel more intended.” There’s a lot of thought that goes into that and particularly where things are going to start and end and whether the cue’s going to be longer or shorter. If [there are] two short cues in a row, I try not to make them too wildly different, so there’s thought of the overall intent within a scene.
I want to talk a little bit about “Frightening Fishes,” the theme song for Shrinking. This is the second time now between Ted Lasso and Shrinking that you’ve done a theme song with a vocalist from another group, this time Benjamin Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie fame. What is the inspiration behind collaborating with a vocalist on the theme song, as opposed to making an instrumental theme like a lot of other shows do?
The truth is it’s slightly accidental. When I was doing Ted Lasso, Marcus and I got introduced and put together, and I went to his house in the countryside in England for like 10 days. I’d barely met him but it was lovely. We’d come down in the morning and have breakfast and then we’d go into the studio. At that point we had no picture, so we were treating it like we were making a record. I was coming from a world where I knew we needed cues. He’d never done TV before, so he was coming from a band where you write songs. Then it was like, “Let’s write a song to be the main theme. That would be cool.” We wrote a song and we sent it off and everyone loved it. When I’ve done shows in the past, they sometimes license a track from an artist with a vocal [because] having a vocal on it makes it stand out from the rest of the score.
When we got to Shrinking, I’d actually done an instrumental idea for the main title. I’d actually sung on it myself but not in a lyrical way. I just had these Beach Boys harmonies that you hear in the score. Everyone went, “This has got great energy,” and then I was like, “It’d be nice to have a lyric. Who would be the right person?” I then got introduced to Ben through Bill and he and I jumped on Zoom. Where it was slightly different is Marcus and I were in the room together, and then this time, Ben was in Seattle and we were Zooming. He put a rough vocal down and I slowly built the track up. He wrote the most incredible lyric, I think it’s brilliant. His voice just completely suits the mood of the show. I produced the track up and made it full length, and that’s how that came about. I love that it’s a song and that there’s a full length version. I think I’m going to try and do a song for the title on everything Bill does from now on.
We’ve talked a little bit about it already, but we are in the midst of Ted Lasso Season 3. What are you most excited for musically that you’re exploring in this new season?
Interestingly enough, earlier I said I hope in Shrinking Season 2 I will have the opportunity to explore other characters because I’ll have earned that through a whole first season. That happened in Ted. The episodes got a bit longer, so the nature of the cues could also change. In Season 2, I had a couple of cues that were more like two or three minutes long and some sports cues that were four or five minutes long. In Season 3, everybody’s journeys go off in different directions. The music has more opportunity to spend more time getting to where it wants to be. That’s exciting as a composer.
When you get a show for the first season, or a film for the first time, you watch it and go, “Oh my god, what am I going to do? What’s the sound? What’s the theme?” But in this, I’ve got the themes for everybody, so when I watch a scene, I already know what the theme is. It’s almost like I’ve got to work out how to arrange it. That’s quite a different but exciting mindset because it makes it a very fun process. There’s obviously always a time crunch, but there’s a bit less concern about having to come up with a great theme or something because hopefully you’ve already got one.
The entire first season of Shrinking is now available to stream on Apple TV+. New episodes of Ted Lasso premiere on Apple TV+ every Wednesday.
Larry Fried is a filmmaker, writer, and podcaster based in New Jersey. He is the host and creator of the podcast “My Favorite Movie is…,” a podcast dedicated to helping filmmakers make somebody’s next favorite movie. He is also the Visual Content Manager for Special Olympics New Jersey, an organization dedicated to competition and training opportunities for athletes with intellectual disabilities across the Garden State.