Jeff Cormack is one of the composers behind the theme song for CPR arts bureau's new arts weekly show – as well as the owner of the striking falsetto featured on the track.
Cormack is a composer and producer with Coupe Studios in Boulder who works in film, television and advertising. He is also one-half of the critically acclaimed Colorado indie-pop duo South of France.
Here is an excerpt from CPR arts editor and arts show host Chloe Veltman's conversation with Cormack.
CPR: Describe your process with the team at Coupe. How did you all come up with this theme?
Jeff Cormack: Kip Kuepper and I got together. Kip is the lead composer at Coupe and a mastermind. We essentially just made a playlist of everything we felt would fit the parameters. We had everything from Andrew Bird to Vampire Weekend to Feist. We came up with about 20 songs that we thought were in that ballpark. We listened to those songs for a couple days and then went our separate ways. We decided to each create five or six pieces on our own, and then get back together and refine the few we think are the best.
CPR: You sent us some samples and all of the members of our team instantly gravitated to this one theme that we all loved and that we ended up with. Tell us about how you went about creating the instrumentation for this particular theme?
Jeff Cormack: It’s cool because that was the piece that I really loved. I just started it on my guitar and it was essentially a little chord progression. It wasn’t too complicated so it left a lot of room for layering and counter melodies. I was excited CPR chose this one because typically the theme that is my favorite never ends up getting picked.
CPR: You sing on this theme as well. I'm a sucker for a man with a high voice. What made you decide to use that startling feature?
Jeff Cormack: I just thought it added a cool kind of hook to the song. From the very start of the project I always had Beirut in mind – the band Beirut – even from the very first creative brief. So I thought let’s try to bring some Beirut into this by doing that falsetto voice.
The complete interview with Jeff Cormack airs on the inaugural episode of CPR’s new weekly arts show on March 7, 2014 at 10.30 a.m. and 7.30 p.m.
