A Conversation with Jim Guthrie – HuffPost 5.18.11

Mike Ragogna: Okay, what’s all this about Sword & Sworcery?

JG: The game is the brainchild of Craig D. Adams, aka Superbrothers, and at its base, it’s a 21st century interpretation of the archetypical old school videogame adventure designed exclusively for Apple’s touchtronic machinery.

MR: Creatively, how did you come up with the music?

JG: The idea from the beginning was to try and wrap a “point and click” adventure game around the music. We already had 2 or 3 earlier compositions of mine to start with and a handful of gameplay ideas. When matched with Craig’s art, we had an amazing, moody atmosphere to start with. Then, we proceeded to fill in the blanks with new compositions of mine inspired by more of Craig’s gorgeous pixel art. It was a pretty mysterious process to us all, and it was a slow conversation between me and Craig and Kris Piotrowski, the Creative Director at Capybara Games.

MR: For the music, what was the recording process like?

JG: Every song was very different, it was pretty solitary work. It was mostly done using midi instruments on a Mac and I played a little guitar, bass and drums. I also used a PSOne and MTVs Music Generator on some tunes. On “The Cloud,” I had some friends play some pretty loose strings and horns with no knowledge of the final composition, just the key of the tune. I later edited together their performances along with other “fake” instruments and some bass guitar.

MR: How did you come up with the iPad and iPod game and how do they tie-in with the album?

JG: Like I had mentioned before, we had always intended for the art style and music to be front and center in this game. Back in 2005 or 2006, Craig had the idea for this game around the same time he first heard my Playstation stuff, and then at some point, Capy came on board. It was a pretty long, organic process. The game was first conceived as “an EP you could walk through,” and I always wrote the music for the game with an album in mind.

MR: How does the Sword & Sworcery app function?

JG: Honestly, I find it pretty hard to answer questions like this in a few sentences. I’m going to do myself a favor and lift a paragraph right off our Facebook page:

S&S: EP presents an archetypical yarn that begins when our lone warrior monk lady strides into a remote mountain wilderness on a woeful errand. She seeks a burdensome book known as The Megatome, a sacred relic protected by a deathless spectre known as The Gogolithic Mass who lurks in the horror-haunted darkness beneath the forbidden peak of Mingi Taw. To complete her woeful errand, initiated participants are asked to help her overcome obstacles. are consciousness expansion technique known as the Song of Sworcery; we may choose to locate contend with cryptozoological phenomena such as the sylvan sprites & enact impossible miracles according to the moods of the moon. Or something like that.

MR: What about the iPad user? Do you have a theory on how it became the #2 iPad best seller?

JG: It’s really a crapshoot in the app biz. There are so many games in the App Store, it’s hard to say why ours popped out for the brief window that it did. We had a great first showing at GDC back in 2009, and a lot of people started to chat about it online. We made a few good trailers to further spread the word and Capybara Games made some great decisions on how to roll it all out.

MR: Who are your creative influences?

JG: This is always a tough question for me. It’s pretty open, but I can say when I make music, I’m always fixated on the vibe or atmosphere of the piece. No one creates a better vibe in their work than people like David Lynch or the Coen brothers. They are masters of distilling atmosphere. I’m always motivated by trying to capture and drag out some feeling or fleeting moment in my music. In the end, I’m more influenced by the change in the air before a rainstorm than I am anything else.

MR: Do you see more artists creating synergies like this in the future?

JG: Definitely. There has never been a more ideal time to collaborate with other artists and musicians to create an app or video game.

MR: Will you be touring to support the album and app, and how will that translate to a live setting?

JG: We really only have one show booked at this point, June 30th, at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto. I’m actually right in the middle of trying to figure out how the hell I’m going to make this music happen in a live context. I’m not used to performing with so many laptops and gadgets, but we’ve had one practice so far and it was sounding like music from the game!

MR: What is your advice for new artists?

JG: Work. Just work everyday at whatever it is you do. Work, work, work.