Dan Cantrell

Rain Dance

Bio: Accordionist/pianist/saw player Dan Cantrell is an award winning composer known for his innovative and energetic approach to documentary film and television scoring. He can be heard on albums from Tom Waits, Joanna Newsom, the Toids, Beats Antique, as well as numerous self-produced albums. He was recently a featured soloist with the San Francisco Symphony, and has performed with the Oakland Symphony, Mike Marshall, members of the Klezmatics, Brave Old World, and Fishbone. 

Dan composed music for three seasons of The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack on Cartoon Network and received a Leo award for his soundtrack to the Seahorse Trainer film, and an Emmy Award for his scoring work on the PBS documentary Home Front.  

Influenced by the music of Eastern Europe, Early American Jazz and modern alternative rock, His extensive scoring catalog for film and television is described as “hauntingly beautiful…quirky and energetic” (SF Bay Guardian). Dan’s music spans a wide range of emotion and style, rich with virtuosic performance, lush acoustic orchestrations, sonic textures resonant with sound design, and strikingly innovative melodic themes.   

Website:  https://www.bellowhead.com

Bandcamp: https://dancantrell.bandcamp.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bellowhead23/

Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/dancantrell

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNT1zSzp5uD6p1reom1IdSQ

Kugelplex: https://www.kugelplex.com

Statement:  It was a unique challenge scoring my part of At My Window, but I tried to think of it as I would other film projects, to musically support the action on screen being mindful of the dialogue and diegetic sound.  In this case, it seemed that the subjects were unknowingly involved in a dance duet on a far away building in the rain.  It was suggested to work in the folk tradition of Klezmer, so I employed members of my Old World Soul band Kugelplex (link above) in the soundtrack: Lila Sklar - violin, Morgan Nilsen - clarinet, Michael Pinkham - drum kit, Eric Perney - Upright Bass, and myself on Accordion.   I adjusted the keys of the music to fit with the ambient sound of the bells, horns traffic noise from the film.  I worked with an arc that stayed fairly upbeat, but accented the far away rain dance with it’s energetic flourishes.   I wanted it to seem as if the people, so deeply imbedded in the scene were actually dancing to the music they heard, and when they were offscreen, the score would generate a nostalgic "Old World” mood that would be curious and mysterious.  I think the result is fun and slightly absurd.  It was definitely a pleasure to work in this format, and the members of Kugelplex all enjoyed playing for the tiniest folk dance of our band’s career.   I just love the intersection of music, dance, and film for the rich results that are a perfect blend of accidental and intentional.  This unique project had a delightful new take on film, art and sound score.