Clinton Cerejo and Bianca Gomes don’t want you to sit back and relax while watching a movie. The singers, who are also founders of the music band Shor Police, and music composers, recently did the background score for the Taapsee Pannu mystery drama Dobaaraa. With their interplay of sounds, they are probably responsible for making you jump and drop your popcorn during the film.
Clinton laughs and adds, “When it comes to composing a background score in a thriller, it’s all about creating pace. It is also important to understand the filmmaker’s sensibilities. Then, you have to enhance the storytelling by adding your own creative stamp to the project.”
While Clinton has independently composed music and background score for a number of films, this is his second with Bianca and as Shor Police, the first being Bob Biswas.
When Shor Police was formed in 2018, Clinton had a strong identity as a fusion musician. “However, I felt I had been stereotyped as the fusion guy, when I had a lot more to offer. Bianca’s sensibilities were in a completely different direction to my sound as a solo composer,” he says. When the two got together, they started creating music that crosses genres.
Clinton and Bianca’s final output may seem in sync, but the duo often has creative differences. “We’ve been through our fair share of teething problems, but I think we’ve reached a point where we have a healthy respect for each other’s point of view. We realise that it’s important to sometimes swallow your own ego for the greater good of the music. I don’t think either of us wins. Or maybe, both of us win!”
The future looks busy for Shor Police. They have their hands full with composing songs and the score for Aditya Dhar’s new production Dhoom Dhaam, three songs for an upcoming web series, besides a single for Nexa Music and another single for Salim Sulaiman’s Bhoomi 2022 album. In between all this, they are also prepping for their first English album.
Clinton, who has been composing for advertising, cinema and indie music for two decades now, says he has learnt to compartmentalise. “I was able to be microscopic when dealing with a 30 seconder where every second is literally accounted for. And then the next day I would be working on a two-hour film project where everything was so macro that it forces you to compartmentalise your sensibilities and call only on the ones that apply to that situation,” he says, adding, “Bianca is relatively new to the madness of the composing world but that’s refreshing as she brings a very fresh un-jaded perspective to things that reflects in the work we do.”
As a singer who is also a composer, he says, there have been moments while recording for another composer, when he felt the tune would have sounded better if tweaked a certain way. But now, he has trained himself to disconnect from his composer-music producer brain and just wear his singer’s hat behind the mic.
Over the years, Clinton has sung in a number of languages including Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada. This includes popular songs like Kya Karoon (Wake Up Sid), Sooraj Ki Baahon Main (Zindagi Na Milegi Doobara), Hey Ya (Karthik Calling Karthik), Yaaram (Ek Thi Daayan), Endendrum Punnagai (Alaipayuthey)... “I’ve sung jingles in almost all the languages,” he says, adding “Advertising gives you that schooling. Doing film songs after that appears easy.”
And he continues to want to learn. To stay relevant in this fast changing, competitive industry, it is important to learn, adapt and stay humble, he says. “Listening is the best teacher. The more you listen to your favourite film composers, the more you can form your own perspective and their influences will begin to emerge in your work but in a very different way. That’s what will eventually make you unique and stand apart.”
