Herb Sundays 143: Emile Mosseri
"songs for flicks" or the marriage of songwriting and filmmaking from Oscar and Emmy-nominated composer, songwriter and performer.
Herb Sundays 143: Emile Mosseri
Playlist: Apple Music / Spotify
Art by Michael Cina
“I wanted to make this playlist for Herb about all my favorite tunes that were written for movies.
I bent the rules a little bit—some of these were used in films and not written specifically for them but have become synonymous with them—most of them were commissioned and written for each film, and to me, that's sort of the highest calling, the marriage of song and film. Harold and Maude, Good Will Hunting, McCabe and Ms Miller, etc. These are some of my favorite examples.”
-Emile Mosseri for Herb Sundays
Spending a week in Mosseri’s taste world, including this mix and his albums and scores, has made me want to be a little more connected, more generous in spirit, and a better collaborator.
The first time I remember understanding the difference between a soundtrack and a score was thanks to 1989’s Batman, owning cassette tapes of Prince’s corresponding album and the Danny Elfman score. Both were great, but I think I finally got the memo. The Movies, or the apex of collaboration, the north star of American popular culture, seem to get the best out of people.
Mosseri’s playlist initially looked like a mix of great and primarily popular songs to me, but playing them back yielded a lot of pleasure and memories. Writing this newsletter for the better of four years has been like grabbing shells and objects from the shore before the next wave comes and pulls them away. Certain songs unfurl, revealing shiny objects that can sink or hide if you wait too long to catch them.
I played it for my wife on her birthday, risky (given some Herb sounds) while we were driving on her birthday, and she loved it; all these songs and their corresponding films are filled with personal baggage and connections. Chief for me: Being disgusted and engrossed by the Betamax playback of Robert Altman’s Popeye (1980) on a big screen at the TV/Audio store with my dad, playing “Moon River” poorly on upright bass in a school concert, watching the intensely cool (settle this, Reddit) Disney’s Robin Rood (1973) ad nauseam with my sister on VHS.
As an Oscar and GRAMMY award-nominated singer, songwriter, and composer, Emile Mosseri’s talent has been shared with myriad songwriters and directors. It has more recently taken center stage in his own work as a performing artist. His sophomore album, released this past Friday, is trying to be Born, produced by friend and collaborator Bobby Krlic, composer for films such as Midsommar and behind aliases such as The Haxan Cloak.
I admire Mosseri’s willingness to move between the composer and personal worlds, looking for the feeling and space to express oneself or serve another’s vision. The artistic impulse, as a whole, is generous, but sometimes, we are hard on them, bemoaning how much they want and how much they need to feel satisfied, but we need them to; they express another world, commanding forces that allow us to express our own as much as we can.
Collaboration is a going concern for Mosseri, onstage and off, hosting one-offs or residencies at venues like Zebulon or Lodge Room (a 32-piece choir came last time) with guests like Mary Lattimore, or touring regulars like Hand Habits and Dougie Stu (Brijean). He’s also released collaborative works with artists such as Sam Gendel (Herb 65), Julianna Barwick, and Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith. I’ve never properly hung out with Emile (a bad habit I’ve fallen into about shyness around artists, funny enough). However, his collaborative album with Kaitlyn for Ghostly has been one I return to often.
at All Music Guide summed it up, nicely, what a treat this was (including the directed clips) for the moment it arose in:“Composed over a two-year period through long-distance file trading, the 13 pieces took on the structure of a palimpsest as each musician built a new layer on top of the old, ping-ponging the music back and forth until it became its own peculiar artifact. The album is quite democratic in that way, sounding like the best aspects of both musicians along with the intangible aura a worthwhile collaboration creates. That it was made largely in isolation during a period of great global tumult makes its joyful nature even more welcome.”
Mosseri spent his teens and twenties playing in bands in New York City before moving to Los Angeles to work as a composer, providing film scores to support the personal stories of Joe Talbot,
, and Lee Isaac Chung. In 2023, Mosseri took center stage, releasing his album Heaven Hunters, his debut album on his own label Greedy Heart Records (Secretly Distribution), which was promoted as springing from a raw songwriting process, the effect of which carries over to his new album. Mosseri seems to flourish in heavy honesty (“a whole life” hit me hard), so I really enjoyed his episode of Songwriters on Process, laying down truths about creative time management as a father and finding material.His new album was composed collaboratively, of course, with the aforementioned Krilic and “dream band @hand.habits , @dougiestu and @playwhatsnotthere, and the incredible @jamesriotto coengineering.” Recorded in just 5 days, Mosseri “would teach the band the tunes each morning in the studio and we’d try to catch good takes like fresh fish. Felt like a little family and we hit a frequency that was special.”
Bonus Beats: Herbs in the News/Throwbacks
Thanks for enduring my Trance era with me, many private Trance enjoyers messaged me, which is great. “Disc Two” had a faulty (user error) send so here it is again in case you need the Flouro blood in your veins:
Kevin Saunderson’s iconic “Reese Bassline” sound gets the deep dive thanks to Mixmag, taking my Herb on Kevin further with interviews with Ray Keith, Optical, and more.
As a smart alec, you can’t talk Oscars anymore without mentioning Herb 130: Tim Heidecker and co’s ultra-long-running On Cinema series. The 12th Annual On Cinema Oscar Special is tonight.
Great post! Really like the mix of soundtrack and standalone songs. Saw Emile at Bowery Ballroom and he blended it all beautifully working in Minari alongside solo stuff and playing with his bandmates. Made it feel cinematic.