Image courtesy of Activision

Since 2001, Vancouver’s Scott Morgan has released four outstanding full lengths of ambient music under the alias of Loscil. His latest release is Strathcona Variations, a digital EP for Ghostly International. In early 2010, Kranky will release a new LP from Loscil titled Endless Falls. Morgan also works as a sound director in the video game industry. He was a vital member of the sound team for Prototype, a game that was released this summer by Activision and sold more copies than any other game in North America during the month of June. Morgan was so nice to sit down and answer some questions regarding the new EP, the upcoming full length, his work with Destroyer’s Dan Bejar and more.

Hugh Miller: Tell me more about the background of the three tracks that compose Strathcona Variations.

Scott Morgan: At work, I have a view from my office of the neighborhood of Strathcona (in Vancouver). It is pretty much the view on the cover of the EP (though I took that photo from the roof of our building). It’s a pretty inspiring view of the buildings and the mountains in the background, but its also led me to think about Strathcona now and then. In essence, the EP is a series of “snapshots” of Strathcona; very photo-inspired in a way.  The main track, “Strathcona,” is a general “musical impression” of this place – a kind of soundtrack to it. The Union of “Union Dusk” is a street name as is the Princess in “Midnight on Princess.”

Both of these “variations” are about seeing the same place from a different perspective which is exactly what the music is about. “Union Dusk” and “Midnight on Princess” are both variations of the main themes in Strathcona. One with a slightly “lighter” impression and the other with a considerably darker one – which is exactly how I see Strathcona – a place with light and dark sides.

HM: Seeing as the EP is a digital-only release, what are your feelings on digital distribution?

SM: I’m not really sure I’ve formed a strong opinion about it. This isn’t the first digital release I’ve worked on – Stases was the other, but it was free. I miss the physical artwork, I must admit. I think a digital release can be a little more “fleeting” as well and lack the perceived longevity of a physical release. It’s easy to get lost in the sea of digital music out there.

HM: You contributed “Loscil’s Rubies” to the vinyl pressing of Destroyer’s Rubies and the Loscil/Destroyer friendship has continued since then. How did you first meet Dan Bejar and what is it like working with him?

SM: A long time ago, a band I was playing in played on a bill with Dan’s old band True Love Forever. This is going back to the early 90’s. At the time, I lived in a house with a couple good friends of mine and we were in need of a roommate. Dan needed a place so he moved in. Dan and I have a pretty long history. He recorded his first Destroyer record on my 4-track and I played in the first live incarnation of Destroyer (this would have been around ‘95). I also played drums (and occasionally sax) on a number of Destroyer records after that – Rubies being the last one.

Dan had asked me before to do Loscil remixes and one of them actually made it onto a Destroyer record called Thief. A longer version of this remix also landed on a Vancouver compilation called Vancouver Special. I have always been asking Dan to play on a Loscil record and recently bugged him to death about doing some spoken word on my next Loscil full length which he has done. Ronen Givony, who runs Wordless Music in New York, asked Dan and I if we would like to come out together for a show and we decided to turn this into a full-on collaborative set. Working with Dan is easy and fun.  He is an old friend who I respect a lot and enjoy making music with.

HM: Is the Loscil/Destroyer collaboration that you mentioned on your blog earlier this month the same material that you performed at the Wordless Music Series in September or something different?

SM: It’s the same. The blog was a bit of a documentation of the rehearsals. The rehearsals were so much fun and sounded so good and unique to me I decided to record some of it.

HM: What is the length of the collaboration and are there any plans to release it?

SM: There are a couple of Dan’s songs that I rearranged in a Loscil style. They are about five minutes each. Dan also played guitar on a couple of my old tracks which are six to seven minutes each. I’m hoping we get the chance to record this stuff for real and do a little EP together. As of yet, there are no concrete plans.

HM: What is the status of Endless Falls, the next Loscil full length?

SM: It is done. The cover is now done too. There will be vinyl of it as well, which I’m excited about. Kranky is talking early 2010 release – probably late January or early February, but we don’t have a specific date yet.

HM: How has your process in creating the new album differed from the construction of previous Loscil efforts?

SM: On the computer side, not too different at all. I used the same set of max/msp patches I’ve used (and build on) for each of the last few releases. There is a slight difference with some of the live instruments in the sense that I actually composed some of the string parts in the title track. Some of the other tracks still have players improvising a bit. The last difference of course is Dan Bejar’s voice contribution on the final track. It is a spoken word thing which makes us both a little nervous, but I’ve grown really fond of.

HM: How would you contrast the new album’s sound with Strathcona Variations?

SM: Strathcona is pretty deep and smooth and rich. Endless Falls has a bit of this, but also has a little more glitchy, rhythmic stuff. None of it ventures outside of the realm I’ve created for the Loscil project, but it’s perhaps a little more varied than Strathcona, which is very focused and condensed.

HM: I am curious to learn more about your work in the video game industry.

SM: I don’t actually write music for games, I’m a sound director, which means I work with composers, actors and sound designers to supervise and direct the audio and keep it all together. I do a lot of sound design myself and hook a lot of the sounds up in the game but rarely, if ever, do I write music. I’m happy to keep that to myself.

HM: How do you gain an idea of the mood that the producers are aiming to achieve?

SM: A game is a long process. The last game I worked on took 3 years to finish.  In audio, we are constantly working on it, adjusting sounds, music, dialogue, etc. to try to get all of the thousands of pieces to work together.  That being said, we do spend a considerably amount of time in pre-production determining what the “sound” of the game will be. Is it dark, heroic, mysterious, aggressive, etc. Having this designed first is imperative as it gives you a guide for the remainder of the project and gives all members of the team something to focus on.

HM: Detail any recent or upcoming projects that you have contributed to in the gaming realm.

SM: I was the sound director of the recent Activision game called Prototype. Actually, the very first sound you hear in the game is a very “Loscil-like” drone which I added for effect. I was in charge of the music direction, working with the composers and honing in on the style as well as implementing the ambient sound system (I have an online article about this on Gamasutra). I worked with all the actors on the dialogue and with our sound designer on the sound effects.  I worked on pretty much every aspect of the audio in that game – that is my job after all.

Strathcona Variations is available digitally now from Ghostly, Amazon, and iTunes. Prototype is in stores for the XBOX 360, Playstation 3, and PC. Look for Endless Falls in early 2010 on Kranky.

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