Featuring Original Music By Adam Robl and Shawn Sutta
Lakeshore Records will release the UNCLE JOHN – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack digitally on October 16, 2015. The album features original music by Adam Robl and Shawn Sutta (AND THE WIND FALLS, OUR LONGEST DRIVE).
UNCLE JOHN features two intersecting stories – a light romantic story and a murder. “Steven [Piet, director] was very involved in helping us create the sound for UNCLE JOHN,” said Robl. “While he initially allowed us to explore our own sonic interpretations, he was very particular about making sure we understood each character, the interplay of genres, and the arc of the story.”
“One interesting instruction was that Steven wanted two main motifs- one for each genre – that would eventually weave into each other. This made us carefully work to create two distinct sounds that we could merge into one compelling theme,” said Sutta.
John is a kindly, well-liked old man in a small rural town. John has just killed a man named Dutch. Dutch had done a lot of bad things to a lot of nice people. Nobody in town would think to implicate John – nobody but Danny, Dutch’s violent drunk of a brother. John’s nephew Ben arrives from Chicago on an impromptu trip to his hometown as his uncle struggles to evade Danny’s growing suspicions and looming threats. In this masterfully acted tale of small-town intrigue, one man’s need for revenge may cost many more their lives.
UNCLE JOHN, which premiered at the 2015 SXSW film festival and has screened at 13 additional festivals, is the first feature film for Miami-based composers Adam Robl and Shawn Sutta. Their score was called “spare and evocative” by The Capital Times.
Robl, a native of Deerfield Beach, FL did not begin playing music as a child yet his affinity for film music was clear to his family at age 6 when he and his brother would act out the scenes to Jurassic Park while listening to a cassette of the score. He first began playing guitar at age 12 and quickly gained proficiency. By age 15 he began playing with bands in clubs all over South Florida learning from older professional musicians that began to shape his interest in various styles of music. Eventually this interest would lead to a full scholarship to the University of Miami School of Music where he would study jazz and work towards perfecting his craft.
Miami-born Sutta’s love for music and recording was born out of a rare opportunity to tour and record in world-class studios beginning at age 11. Under the mentorship of Grammy-winning producer Richard Aspinwall, he was given the chance to join a band called Lighthouse, which performed all over the country and recorded in world-class studios in Nashville TN. It was here that Sutta developed a passion for recording. After graduating from the University of Miami with a degree in studio music and jazz, Sutta discovered a way to merge his passions for music, recording, and connecting with people with his lifelong affinity for cinema. His interest in the changing landscape of the production industry has led to an innovative approach to post-production collaboration that serves as a model for the next generation of film music studios.
Though Robl and Sutta originally met in college, it wasn’t until a few years later that fate stepped in and the two accidentally became neighbors. When people lock in on the right path, things seem to come easily – and within a week of launching their Miami-based production studio Audiocastle they were commissioned to provided music for a Special Olympics ad. Since then they have written music for brands like Microsoft XBOX, Wrangler Jeans, Ford, Patrón, Reebok, and American Express. Robl and Sutta’s music has been heard nationally on CBS (a Shark Week feature), in several shorts including AND THE WIND FALLS, and for the golf documentary OUR LONGEST DRIVE. They also have written Robl and Sutta are currently writing and producing an upcoming album for artist Keith Johns.
“We scored UNCLE JOHN in order from beginning to end,” Robl explained. “The first scene set the tonal palate and main theme for the entire score. From there we wanted to create the score in the order the audience experienced it and allow the story and score to unfold together.”
“There are four piano chords in the opening theme that are reused throughout the film,” described Sutta. “The theme expresses inner turmoil and unsettling tensions that are true of both of the stories that make up UNCLE JOHN. We used the theme, pieces of theme, and the harmony from the theme in many parts of the score to tie the stories together.”
FilmBuff presents UNCLE JOHN in select theaters and On Demand September 18, 2015. The UNCLE JOHN – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack will be available digitally October 16, 2015.
