Likes:Eating savory food in anticipation for dessert, friendly strangers, organizing cluttered spaces, talking on the phone, and listening to The Cure
Dislikes: Upholstered seats on the subway, bad romantic comedies, flip flops, and concert openers
Favorite Food: Cookies
Favorite Quote: The only thing Columbus discovered was that he was lost!
Kira Bornemann is a 25-year-old up-and-coming composer based out of Boston. When she was five years old, her father discovered she was writing her own tunes on the piano. He enrolled her in piano lessons and she began performing her own pieces at recitals. Her passion lead her to pursue a music degree at Northeastern University and she has studied with film and TV composers, Larry Groupé and Roger Neill and video game composer, Garry Schyman. In her recent work, she conjures up dark and dreamy images through her choice of musical elements. When she’s not writing music, Kira loves cooking vegan food, learning French, and doing yoga.
Kira Bornemann VGM Artist Series Interview
Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) of choice
Logic Pro
Favorite Media Composers
Koji Kondo is my all-time favorite. When I hear “Song of Healing” from Zelda, it always brings tears to my eyes. Two other favorites of mine are Eric Serra who did the soundtrack to Fifth Element and Roger Neill, known for his theme music for Mozart in the Jungle.
Favorite Scores
– The Matrix
– Steamworld Dig 2 “El Machino”
– Bioshock Infinite “Welcome to Columbia”
– Original Myst “Planetarium”
Discuss your personal creative workflow
When I watch a scene, melodies come into my head very quickly. Always monophonic. I will sit down on the piano and play a line that I hear in my head while the scene plays and see what evolves. Sometimes I will take a break from watching the scene to see what music comes to my head while I am not watching it. It is powerful to take yourself away from the work environment for a moment to see what your mind creates. Even in the shower, might think of a violin line that wouldn’t come to my mind if I was sitting in front of the computer.
Discuss the theme of your Artist Series album
I wrote it based on a story plot in which a girl lives in a utopia and stumbles upon a window to a nightmarish alternate dimension. Theme is dark, dream-like, nostalgic, and romantic. I like exploring positive, manic emotions along with the total opposite: dark and somber.