Music
Selected Tracks
The taster menu!
Here, you'll find everything from more traditional grand orchestral pieces, to singular electronic and found-sound experimental approaches, and intimate indie- and small-ensembles.
Over the years, Adrian has had the pleasure of working across many styles and genres of film and television. His work is always rooted in a story-focused, collaborative approach that seeks to find the unique fingerprint of each project, while allowing his voice and perspective comes through in his own blend of harmony and texture.
Last Call
Drama | String Quartet + Piano
Shot in two true single takes, filmed simultaneously in two different parts of a city, Last Call, is a real time feature presented in split screen showcasing both ends of a wrong number phone call that has the potential to save a life.
The film received a 2 minute standing ovation during its West Coast premiere at Dances With Films in L.A. The score was lauded by critics and viewers alike. To match the approach and aesthetic of the film, a string quartet was recorded live in front of an audience and presented as a single take.
“The full house was moved by a score which soared… the feeling in the room was electric… Last Call should be seen because its unique storytelling is a selling point of its own. Powerful and unique, Last Call is at least that, but it just may live forever as a piece of cinema history.” 10/10 – Curt Wiser, OC Movie Reviews
Hypernova
Sci-Fi/Drama | Synth-Orchestral
Cassiopeia Lyra struggles to navigate her increasingly alienating world, as she becomes more and more disconnected from her work, colleagues, and husband. Can she find connection amidst the chaos?
The score for this imaginative and lyrical short film was created to give the audience a sense of both literal and figurative space, and a melancholy beauty that is at once intimate but also feels galaxies away. It uses a combination of synths, orchestra, and the sounds of actual space and various space-bound signals
To Hell With Harvey
Comedy/Drama | Small Ensemble
A struggling aspiring young writer assists a reclusive washed-up author on his comeback winter book tour. Together they hit the road across rural Ontario on a tumultuous journey seeking inspiration, acceptance and redemption.
This quirky, off-beat score features a combo of surf guitars, ukulele, piano, melodica, and synths, plus typewriter percussion. One of the challenges was to create a musical world that reflected both the humor and the heart of these characters – situations that were at times hilarious and at others, raw and vulnerable.
Out With Dad
Drama | Orchestral/Small Ensemble
A teenage girl and her single father. Rose is coming of age, and coming out of the closet. Dad wants to make sure Rose’s coming out is as easy and painless as possible. Sometimes he tries a little too hard.
Canada’s most successful webseries has a devoted worldwide fan-base and over 25 million views. I call this one of my “bucket list” projects, because of the impact it has had. We get comments from people who live in countries where being gay is punishable by death, and for whom the show has literally saved their life.
Jason is one of my oldest friends, is a film-score enthusiast and expert, and working with him has always been a great pleasure. The show was nominated twice for a Canadian Screen Award and has won countless awards at festivals around the globe. The multi-award winning score was recorded with Bow Tie Orchestra (Moscow) for its final season.
Winner of Outstanding Music at TO Webfest, and nominated for Best Original Score at Vancouver Webfest.
TimeBox
Sci-Fi/Horror | Found-Sound
Two backwoods hicks discover a time machine in the woods. Instead of betting on sports or gaming the stock market, they use it to hunt each other. Repeatedly. The friends’ twisted game soon spirals out of control.
As a challenge, I decided to score this experimental mind-bender using only found-sound. I spent days recording power tools, using fishing wire to resonate the strings on my piano, and a violin bow to play pieces of metal, among other experiments. The results were processed and the resulting score composed of these eerie, haunting, and sometimes ugly sounds.
Definition Of Fear
Thriller | Orchestral/Found Sound
Three girls, one cabin in the woods, some dabbling with ouija boards and psychological experiments... what could go wrong? Director James S. Simpson (Merchant of Venice) ratchets the tension with help of Bollywood superstar Jacqueline Fernandez in the lead.
This thriller features a score that hearkens back to the classic Hitchcock/Hermann sound, with dark strings and the eerie sounds of broken instruments and a damaged piano brought back from the grave, conjuring some restless spirits of its own.
Haphead
Drama | Orchestral/Small Ensemble
The year is 2025. Maxine works at a factory making haptic inputs. After she steals one her favorite fighting games, the skills she learns while playing are beat directly into her muscle memory. When she begins to investigate her father's suspicious death, she quickly gets pulled into a dangerous game where she'll need her new skill to survive.
I worked with director Tate Young to develop a dark, hybrid electronic score that set the tone for this near future cyberpunk noir, and helped keep the characters real and relatable. Distinct themes were developed for ideas and places, including the mysterious in-world game, Overgrowth.
Winner of Outstanding Music at TO Webfest, and nominated for Best Original Score at Vancouver Webfest.
Necessary Evil
Comedy/Fantasy | Orchestral
When a timid, low-level corporate demon gets promoted to CEO of Hell LLP, he must overcome jealous adversaries, office politics, physical dangers and his own personal demons to learn what is broken in Hell, and figure out how to fix it to save the universe.
This quirky dark comedy is like Office Space + Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Working with creator Randy Brososky and Chris Donaldson (Van Helsing, Dirk Gently) I created a Gothic orchestral score that blends in the sounds of the office, including printers, faxes, copiers, and papers shuffling.
"The music […] has the whimsy of Danny Elfman, and a haunting quality that echoes the sound of Ennio Morricone.
- Jonathan Pokay, Director