Matthew Herbert, an indie film composer whose credits include recent indie films like 2022’s The Wonder And A Fantastic Woman and Disobedience, both released in 2017, was recently interviewed by The Hollywood Reporter, where he discussed a variety of topics, the main of which his feelings towards film composing and his musical process, as well as his work on the 2025 film Hot Milk, starring Emma Mackey, Fiona Shaw, Vicky Krieps, and Vincent Perez.
When asked about the difference between making music for film and TV compared to live performances and records Herbert answered by saying “It’s much easier because the idea is already there. So you’re immediately in service of another idea…But it is also harder because it’s not your idea and you’re part of a team and have to serve the story and the vision of the director and the wider team.”
When asked what makes a good and bad score, Herbert’s responses were quite insightful. In response to what makes a bad score, he explains “A bad score, or a lazy score, is doing the same thing as the picture. It’s if you see somebody being sad, and it’s sad music. It’s just telling the audience be sad, be sad, be sad. That can be patronizing and frustrating”. And when asked what makes a good score, in an even more detailed response, Herbert explains “A good score is like a new character. It’s a separate character. It gives the director another tool. You think about what kind of character this score wants to be”. He concludes his thoughts to both questions by saying “So with a score you have a huge amount of power to direct the audience’s attention, so you have to use it very carefully. Otherwise, you can destroy the story, you can destroy the surprises”.
Matthew Herbert also goes into detail on his most recent score for the film Hot Milk. He goes into detail on why the film, despite being set in Spain, features very little Spanish music by saying “The film is set in Spain, but Rebecca (referring to Rebecca Lenkiewicz, the film’s director) didn’t want any Spanish music. We didn’t want to locate it. Both the book and the script are really, really hallucinogenic, really dreamy”.
