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Getting a late start in the film music world, musician Mowg quickly shot up to become one of the top composer in the industry, with credits that include I Saw the Devil (2010), Silenced (2011), Hwayi: A Monster Boy (2013), Miss Granny (2014), The Age of Shadows (2016) and this year’s The King.

Between a lecture and final preparations for recording the score of period action-drama WARRIORS OF THE DAWN, Mowg sat down with KoBiz in Central Seoul to discuss his unusual path into the industry and his unique approach to film style.

I used to work in New York City as a jazz musician, where it’s hard to make a living. Back then in my 20s, I worked with many DJs and everyone wanted a unique stage name as a lot of hip-hop stars were coming up. Actually, my Korean name, which is Sung-hyun, is really hard to pronounce in the west so a friend of mine suggested I should get a stage name. Then it just happened and I got a lot of credits with that name. It was hard to change after that!

I wanted to study music there but it was so expensive that I had to quit, I didn’t even finish a semester. I decided to find some work with professional musicians instead. Later I became a film composer, which is also a bit like being a sideman.

I play bass, piano, and guitar, as well as a few percussion instruments like drums. I really enjoy recording music for films, sometimes I just play things by myself. I love to layer different bits of music, it’s like wearing different clothes. Most directors like that kind of style.

Oh, a long time ago! Back when I was in school I used to play rugby. I wasn’t really into rugby but there were a lot of benefits with these sports programs and I was more into the macho culture at the time. I gave it up after school. I was just interested in the arts then.

I was really interested in all kinds of films but when I was young, I had a huge ego and it was hard to work with people in different industries. I only respected a few people in the jazz and avant-garde fields but then things changed as I became friends with some filmmakers and I tried to listen to their voice. I was then asked me to do some film work and that first time there wasn’t any pressure, it wasn’t a big feature film. That was Doomsday Book (released in 2012 but shot in 2006). Director YIM Pil-sung was a good friend of mine and we went to the theater many times together, often catching arthouse films. One day he asked me to try something experimental for him. At that time I met directors like KIM Jee-woon and BONG Joon-ho. Things I worked on turned out to be pretty successful and then more work kept coming in. I thought I would get some film work once in a blue moon, but I never expected that to happen. No, I work with around ten different directors on feature films or shorts, commercial and indie films.

Director KIM asked me to work on I Saw the Devil, which felt like a big opportunity and my first feature. It was a special film with unique and violent elements that was hard to make commercial but I love that kind of film. I tried to bring several different elements. For instance, violent films usually use music that has a similarly violent edge, but I wanted to try something more emotional, more mellow. I used some bossa nova sounds, other Latin American influences, and some piano tunes to try and express a sad feeling. KIM’s style is to twist things in an interesting way.

I really didn’t expect anything. The other nominees were big names that I have a lot of admiration for, like SAKAMOTO Ryuichi and Xavier Jamaux, and I felt so small. When I heard my name called out I was shocked. I got such great direction from director KIM, who is very sensitive about film scoring. In the middle of shooting, he’s always thinking about what kind of music can fit in or create a certain mood or make something better.

It normally starts when he’s writing the script. He’ll bring music to me, ask questions about different musical genres and explain what he imagines in his head. He gives me every version of the script. For example, the script for The Age of Shadows was inspired by Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which we loved. We wanted to make a cool spy film without any other emotions, something very cold. We decided to use less melodies and less harmonies, and use cold notes to create a dynamic soundtrack.

When I grew up I was really into David Shire, who did Coppola’s The Conversation, and Lalo Schifrin. These days I love Cliff Martinez, who used to work with Soderbergh. In Korea, I love SHIN Byung-ha, who passed away a while ago, who was also bass player. My dad’s friend knew him and I met him a few times when I was young, over 20 years ago. He did a lot of films in the 1970s and 80s. Actually, I have a lot of respect for people who worked on a lot of films. I think professionalism is the most important attribute of a film composer. I like Schifrin because he did so many titles and was so versatile.

Writing film music is very challenging and when I first entered that world I just wanted to do my own style of music but I was hearing people say that I was too Americanized or too stylish, too heavy, too deep, and this motivated me to change up my style quite a lot. For a while, I used my own style but now I like to work with many different directors and I listen to what they need and create new sounds for them like a custom tailor.

I think the Korean film industry is trying to chase Hollywood’s model and has probably absorbed about 70% or 80% of their methods. But there’s still room for something different. Hollywood’s system is very professional on the one hand but also less creative on the other, more rigid.

Doing The Last Stand (2013) in America was very difficult. I had to present ideas many times in front of different people and explain things every day. They always had so many questions. I guess composers in the US probably have assistants that can handle a lot of the questions. I shared a studio with Hans Zimmer, who has loads of staff but I just brought one person from Korea but he couldn’t speak English well, so I had to do most of the talking!

The biggest difference is that Hollywood’s market is the whole planet, so they try to be less emotional, more clear and dynamic. Korean films need more feeling in their soundtracks, because of the complicated relationships on screen. 

Director SHIN uses a very independent style of film production. He makes films through his own company and writes very quickly. I think he can sit down and finish a script in a week. Working with him is quite a freeing experience without a lot of pressure, and I’ve learned a lot from him, especially about the writing process. I actually produced his new film Romans 8:37, so I am learning about new fields in the industry.

I used to live with cinematographer KIM Jee-yong (The Age of Shadows) and I learned a lot about his work then. It’s the same with my different friends in the industry. I love hearing about what they do and trying to understand their style of thinking and expression.

It’s all different and it depends on the director. Some people want something done quickly, others want more time to reflect on and develop something. I’m really close with KIM Jee-woon and sometimes he’ll just drop into my studio and ask me to play the bass on the spot and he’ll go “That’s it! Just record that. Don’t need to compose anything else.” That’s what happened with the piano tune on I Saw the Devil.

There’s WARRIORS OF THE DAWN and Romans 8:37, which is already finished. I’m also working on Criminal City (W/T), from a new director called KANG Yun-sung. It’s a hard-boiled noir about Korean-Chinese people living in Korea. Actor Don LEE (aka MA Dong-seok) put this project together. I also did A Special Lady, another noir with KIM Hye-soo, from new director LEE An-kyu. I’ve also got Monster on the way. It’s set in the Joseon Era and director HEO Jong-ho wants to make something really gothic. He’s suggested some heavy metal for the soundtrack so I’m listening to a lot of old metal and practicing metal guitar riffs. I’ve also been talking a lot with KIM Jee-woon about the score for his next film Jinroh: The Wold Brigade (W/T).

My style matches with The Age of Shadow, which is very dry and percussive.