3epkano are a musical collective who specialize in providing new scores for silent films. 3epkano’s Mattew Nolan talked to Lir Mac Cárthaigh about their work.

Beginnings
I had seen Caligari about two and a half years ago at the IFI, completely silent. Then, because I'm so interested in music, I thought maybe there's an opportunity here to produce some music for this film. I thought about it for a little while, gave it a while to gestate, and I had serious doubts. Then an American musician I hugely admire called Mark Linkous performed a soundtrack for The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari at a film festival in the United States. And I thought if somebody who produces music that is guitar-based, the kind of music I like, has produced a soundtrack for this kind of film, then maybe there is a possibility for myself and Cameron to explore similar avenues. I suppose that's what gave me the final impetus to go and do it. So in January 2004 I booked the Sugar Club for mid-April, I booked a print from the British Film Institute, and I gave myself a deadline to work towards. And we had to do it, otherwise we'd still be doodling away or procrastinating.

That's how the first film came about. And the music itself – we were very much aware that whatever approach we took to the music demanded that we retain a respect for the film. The film, in the way it's constructed, the way it's edited, the movement on screen, has a rhythm almost of music in itself. And we were very reluctant to produce music that would interfere with that rhythm. At best we hoped to produce something that would enhance what's going on visually. I had been conditioned to associate a particular form of music with silent film; music that is produced or composed to constantly match or pre-empt action on screen, and I think more times than not it kind of suffocates what's happening visually. And I saw an opportunity to produce something that didn't do that, but that tried to tap into the atmosphere, the tone that was being generated by the visuals, by the narrative on screen.

The full article is printed in Film Ireland 108.