"One of the things I particularly enjoyed doing was taking raw sound from locations during the film, like the candy machine, and writing pieces of music to go with them, which is totally unnecessary within the context of the film, because they have their own logic"

Fred Frith reflects on the process of composing music in a way that interacts intimately with the sounds captured from the environments featured in a film. By mentioning the “raw sound from locations,” Frith alludes to field recordings and natural audio snippets like the sound of a candy machine, which are typically collected during the filming process for use in post-production. Instead of relegating these sounds to background noise or incidental atmosphere, he deliberately composes music to accompany, echo, or interact with them. This careful pairing draws attention to the artistic possibilities inherent in everyday auditory experiences, suggesting that music can provide a new context, light, or emotional weight to what might be considered mundane or overlooked sounds.

The act he describes, writing music around unique local sounds, extends beyond traditional film scoring, in which music is often used primarily to serve the emotional or narrative beats of the story. Frith’s approach is more experimental and self-referential, as he acknowledges that this process is “totally unnecessary within the context of the film.” By calling it “unnecessary,” he highlights his artistic motivation: the pleasure and challenge of engaging with these raw sounds independent of direct narrative requirements. There is also an implied celebration of the intrinsic “logic” of environmental or found sounds. The everyday sonic world, he observes, has its own coherence and complexity, its own “logic”, which does not demand musical accompaniment for its usefulness or beauty in the film’s context.

By juxtaposing composed music with organic sound, Frith explores the boundaries between structured artifice and natural occurrence, inviting the audience to consider how each element interacts and transforms the experience of the other. This fusion allows for moments of unexpected meaning or resonance, moving beyond necessity and into the realm of artistic discovery and joy, underscoring the idea that art can thrive not only because it is needed but also because it is possible.