Munk Duane is a film composer and musical artist – I just don’t know how he fits it all in! His track Myths caught my attention recently, so I decided to find out a little more – the track can also be found at the end of this interview.
By Jane Howkins
You recently released a track titled Myths, which we reviewed. What can you tell us about the song?
I’m a big believer in owning your own narrative and empowerment through reinvention, especially as an artist. So many of us become rigid over time. “This is the music I like”. “These are the clothes I wear”. “This is who I am”. Having preferences and knowing yourself is important. Having an expectation that the ‘self’ you are today should be the same in 5 or 10 years is limiting to personal growth and robs you of experiences that shape your evolution. Myths is about that process of self-reinvention. “This is who I am today but tomorrow, I may experience something that moves me in a new direction”. The song is about giving yourself permission to change and not living by others’ expectations.
How has the reception been for Myths and where can it be purchased?
Myths has become one of the best received songs I have released. It has been added to playlists and covered in media from all over the world. Myths can be purchased on Bandcamp, Apple Music and Amazon and can be streamed on any platform.
You’ve also recently released a track called Just A Word. What can you tell us about that song?
People can think themselves alone in their perceptions and feelings, which is ironic in the age of communication that we live in. Just a Word speaks to that feeling of singularity. In the land of social media, so many of us have stopped speaking to each other and have adapted a posture of speaking at each other. This vacuum of bi-directional communication is particularly detrimental to artists.
Songs can be confessions, secrets spoken aloud, cries for help, existential questions or just the passing thought. They are designed to be a conversation. There has been a trend over the last few years where I would release new music and not hear a word from people, sometimes even my closest friends. I would take that apathy as commentary of what they thought of what I was creating. It is soul crushing, but people have preferences and if I’m not theirs, that’s the risk we take putting ourselves out there. Then I’d see my streaming listener numbers jump up, receive a swirl of great reviews from around the globe or see my music get licensed for TV and film and I’d become even more confused.
Maybe my friends are just sick of me – ha.
The dichotomy does play hell with my confidence. It’s not about getting an “atta boy” or an ego boost. If music is a conversation, then the lack of response can tell an artist what they say isn’t important enough to answer. Imagine confessing an intimate feeling to someone close and getting the silent treatment. It feels a lot like that. The response doesn’t have to be supportive either. Hey, tell me you hate what I do. Tell me something. It’s impossible to orient ourselves in life whilst in a communication vacuum.
Do you plan to release any more singles in the near future?
The official video for Myths will be released December 2. It was directed by Dom Portalla, who directed Another Day Another Bullet for me, which won the 2019 New England Music Award for Video of the Year, and the video for Dangerous in 2020. Just a Word is the final single for 2022.
Are there any plans to release an EP or album?
Yes. I will have a full-length album available in late spring 2023 called Fearless Moral Inventory.
You’re also a film composer. What films have you composed for? How do you fit it all in?
Ha – a lot of very late nights. I just completed a special project for a company called Hatch that makes a smart sleep product. They offered me my own channel and required me to compose 10 hours of original content. That work kept me up until 3am most nights between July and the beginning of September. Each piece had to be 1 hour in duration.
I don’t think I have composed 10 hours of music in the last 5 years combined. That’s an extraordinary amount of composing. Additionally, I work with a publishing company called Heavy Hitters Music, as well as working independently. I have licensed music to hundreds of television and film productions, such as CBS promos for The 70th Annual Tony Awards, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Hawaii Five-O, 60 Minutes, Blue Bloods, and program content for shows like Pam & Tommy, Atlanta, NCIS, The Sopranos, the Super Bowl Half-Time Show, NCAA March Madness and more.
I composed the original score for the 2015 indie thriller The House Across The Street starring Eric Roberts, as well as several other indie films with director Arthur Luhn. As of the pandemic, I have also been composing pieces for Extreme Music, who are the production arm of Sony/ATV. Extreme Music is powered by A-List talent including Quincy Jones, Hans Zimmer, Sir George Martin, Atticus Ross, Michael Giacchino, Timbaland and Junkie XL. Getting the invite to contribute to that library, in any capacity, is an honour. The company creates and licenses music for use in television, film, advertising and online media.
Has the pandemic hindered your work much?
For performance, it was obviously devastating, as we saw throughout the industry. For focused creative time, it was fantastic. It allowed me an opportunity to be more prolific than I had been in years.
Your music contains elements of pop, rock and indie. What/who influences you most as an artist? What have you been listening to recently?
Artists that continued to push the envelope creatively and discover new approaches in their evolution inspire me to be brave and not to get too precious about any particular creative period I’m in. Prince, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, James Brown is where it all originates for me. I am a fan of so many different kinds of music, but my core is soul/r&b. My current playlist includes everyone from Sufjan Stevens, Andrew Bird and Harry Styles to Childish Gambino, Vulfpeck and Tame Impala. Oh, Ben Howard and Chet Faker have also been at the top of my current listening list. I’m all over the place.
You’re based in New England. What is the local music scene like?
Boston used to be a very fertile place for original music. Many of the venues that supported up-and-comers have been disappearing. They are being replaced by condos and general gentrification. There are still a few staples but it’s a shadow of what it once was. There is a tight knit community of musicians here on the South Shore of Massachusetts where I live.
Do you have any UK tour dates lined up?
I have been doing some research into venues and bills in the UK that would align with what I do. It’s a dream to come tour the UK. Hopefully in 2023.
Any last words for the fans?
Let the artists that inspire and entertain you know you appreciate them. Tell them. As many communication conduits as we have in this part of the century, many of us feel a sense of isolation and disconnect from the people who listen to what we put out there. Platforms like Spotify don’t give the listeners a chance to connect with the artists and so many of us wonder who you are, especially if we don’t tour much. Find us. Talk to us. It empowers and inspires us to keep going.