patrick bennett

by anya fielding

‘I score my own life’

The youngest composer in British broadcasting history talks music tastes and composing for film

As the autumn months approach, many final-year students will be considering what to do with their degrees and how to start their careers once out of the familiar grounds of education. Not so for Patrick Bennett, on the cusp of his third and final year at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (LIPA).

In fact, his career is already full-steam ahead, he became the youngest composer in British broadcasting history – producing the score for the second series of BBC Scotland’s Granite Harbour at age 19.

“I thought it would all happen after uni, but it happened all at once, which is great,” he laughs.

Music has been Bennett’s goal since childhood, after his father, an avid audiophile, took him to a guitar shop after he “wasn’t all that interested” in sports. After learning to play a few chords on his new stratocaster, he says: “Bang, there and then, I know what I wanted to do then.”

He has not looked back since. “On that day, there was no question of it really.”

Since then, he has also learnt the piano and studied music at school and performing arts programmes. He explains that once a musician learns an instrument it becomes the springboard for playing others in its family. “If you play the guitar, you can play bass and ukulele and mandolin … Because they’re all string instruments.”

His latest endeavour is learning to play a handmade bamboo flute, which a friend brought back from India for him. His wide range is motivated by a desire to understand the theory of music, its range and versatility.

Education has been key to developing his knowledge. On top of studying music at school, he auditioned and joined an AYM group, a weekend music conservatoire for under-18s. There, he was exposed to music and composition outside of the mainstream. “One week, we did Arabic instruments and music … One week, we’d do an opera course: how and why it was written, and how it developed.”

Variety is what he is looking for and he holds no allegiance to any specific genre, beyond what feels appropriate in the moment. “It depends on the environment … If I’ve cooked tea for everyone, I’ll put on, like, jazz, Miles Davis – not going to put on punk music.

“I’ll play a different kind of music depending on where I am.”

As such, Bennett does not have “a sound” which defines him, nor does he seek one, as most artists do. “One day, I’ll write some crazy art rock, then the day after that, I’ll write orchestral music, and then some big band funk.”

He adds: “A lot of people listen to two bands, pick up a guitar and write a couple of songs and sound exactly like them. But I just love music, all music and I’ll never shy away from anything.”

Music is all-consuming for Bennett. “I don’t do much really beyond making music.”

This varied music taste has helped him, Bennet argues, as he knows which instruments he needs to make his compositions come to life, even if he can’t play them. He has cultivated familiarity with a range of instruments and genres by listening to all kinds of music, all the time.

Whatever he is doing, he is accompanied by music; be that on the bus, on walks or while chatting with friends. Following a suggestion that he has essentially created a soundtrack to his own life, he laughs and says: “Yeah, I score my own life.”

This comes in handy in “spotting sessions” – during which he views a film with producers and discusses its “feel”, which Bennett then has to translate through music. He must find the right sound to match the film’s atmosphere and tone: he adds the “last ingredient” which provides “context” for the audience.

His wide-ranging approach may have to change as he forms his own band, The Psycho Soundtrack. The group has studio sessions planned, and Bennett is eager to create something with his friends. He says music is a highly collaborative art form; he has always worked with other people to make anything. He keeps the audience in mind when he composes, as he believes music “is for the listener”.

The band hopes to produce an album to be released soon.

But the group is not the only project the soon-to-be graduate can look forward to: he talks coyly about an American feature film he has been hired to score. He is not able to name the project, but he speaks about meeting producers who had flown in from the US and showing them around Liverpool with his agent, Roag Best.

“It was exciting, it was cool,” he gushes.

He is also looking forward to scoring the third season of Granite Harbour, once it finishes filming this autumn.