The hit web television series 13 Reasons Why has recently released its third season, and fans are raving. The new season touches on hot button social issues this season such as abuse, gun safety, and immigration.
Brendan Angelides, better known by his stage name Eskmo, returned to score the third season of the binge-worthy Netflix show. The electronic music producer and composer has been performing live electronic music for over a decade and has scored the two previous seasons of the show.
During his NPR Music Tiny Desk performance, the American electronic music composer used common items found around him, such as an empty water bottle, pieces of wood, and a soda can, to produce different sounds and pieced it all together to create a cohesive instrumental track. This is the same approach the musician takes when producing his own music. “As an example for a snare sound…I [Angelides] would record sticks breaking for a cool snare sound. I started to do that on stage where before every show I’d look for random janitor closets or garbage bins or pretty much anything I could find noise making, and I would bring it on stage and start playing it.” However for scoring, Angelides takes a different approach.
When beginning the scoring process for the latest season, which took five to six months, Angelides and the showrunner Brian Yorkey sat down and “went through the general gist of where it [season 3] would be heading and the angle that the season would be taking, going through the episodes one by one”.
In comparison to the previous seasons, Angelides claims that the pieces from season 3 are “more on the thriller side.” He explained how with each season he works on, he takes the overall subject matter and tries to “shift the themes to fit into the vibe” of the music he has to produce. Angelsides aimed to build “an extension” of the social issues that were being addressed on screen through his music.
Actor Dylan Minnette who plays protagonist Clay Jensen in ’13 Reasons Why’. Credit Netflix
The show has touched on certain sensitive topics such as male rape “which is something that does not happen much at all in T.V. shows or films”.
Angelsides looked up to artists such as Michael Jackson and the band The Prodigy while growing up, and draws current inspiration from Kendrick and “anyone who is left of center and pushing the envelope”. The LA based music producer is also the composer for the Showtime show Billions, which Angelsides claims is more “electronic” has versus 13 Reasons Why which has “a blend of everything and has more of a vintage flavor”.
Be sure to check out the latest season of the hit show on Netflix.
Featured Image Credit: Spencer Hansen
