We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Brook Munro. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Brook below.

Brook, appreciate you joining us today. Can you tell us the backstory behind how you came up with the idea?

HARVEST IN TWELVE PARTS was born out of the following question: “what would the art of winemaking sound like from a musical perspective?” Over the past decade and a half, I’ve had the unique pleasure of working at a small family owned winery on California’s Central Coast, while also creating his own path forward as a composer and musician. I found the parallels between winemaking and music creation to be incredibly captivating. The quality of a wine is intrinsically tied to its winemaker and their vision for what they hope to produce and share with the wine lover. The same is so for the musician and the songs they craft. With this in mind, he decided to produce his first solo album inspired by and sourced from the sounds of harvest.

Harvest In Twelve Parts was produced throughout the 2021 and 2022 harvest seasons. I recorded a range of live performances, foley, and vineyard sounds at Claiborne & Churchill Winery, as well as in his studio. The idea was to explore the sonic and textural movements that we experience throughout harvest, both from a technical standpoint as well as an emotional one. The resulting collection of twelve songs highlights the parallels of wine and art. Trials and tribulations, romance and celebration, and of course, the ever unexpected. It is my hope that the listener will find Harvest In Twelve Parts to be an immersive experience through the sonic landscape of harvest.

Released on limited black vinyl with gatefold packaging, the LP was released October 24, 2023. The digital version of the album is available on all streaming platforms.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Simply put, I’ve been writing music for feature films, short films, and trailers for the past 7 years. Since I was young, I’ve had a great admiration for motion pictures. Whether it be Star Wars, E.T., or Batman, I couldn’t help but lose myself in those worlds. And while I always knew the music that was written for these films helped cement them into our cultural zeitgeist, it didn’t occur to me that I would one day write music for the big screen.

In my teenage years, I journey my way through the world of punk rock and hardcore music. I had a strong desire to start a band that could bring a group of talented people together to create the type of music we all loved. I started a band called The Mighty Fine back in 2008 with some of my best friends. It was a family !We would end up making 3 albums, touring throughout the country, and created core memories that I don’t think I could forget, even if I tried. Around 2015, it was clear that The Mighty Fine had accomplished what it needed to and we began starting our own families. I had always told myself that I would only pursue music if I felt passionate about it. Unfortunately, the passion had subsided. I spent the following year with my wife and young daughter, learning how to be a father. I found myself watching more movies that I had ever watched before. I would watch the special features on every single disc, realizing that I wanted to be a part of the movie making magic. But what could I do? I wasn’t a director, a writer, or an actor.

I began thinking, “what if I could write music like John Williams in Empire Strikes Back?”. But who was I kidding? I had zero experience with writing orchestral music. I didn’t have any classical training, and I couldn’t play the piano. Thankfully I didn’t let that stop me from pursuing my curiosity. I learned that iconic composers who I loved (ie Hans Zimmer and Danny Elfman) came from the rock and roll world like me. That didn’t have the background that I thought I needed. So I figured, screw it, if they can do it, why can’t I? That that’s when my journey as a film composer began. Since then I’ve scored two feature films, several short films as well as written music for trailers and podcasts. I think what I love so much about film scoring is that I love working with the filmmakers. Each one has a vision for the stories they’re creating and together we get to build that world out sonically. I get to explore storytelling by creating a musical language that best serves the story at hand.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding part of being an artist, a composer, and a storyteller is that every project that I work on, whether it’s my own album or a score for a film, is the fact that I get to create these sonic worlds that differ from project to project. These audible landscapes are generally created from earnest places. But because each is intrinsically tied to its own place of origin, it requires me to trust my gut and feed my curiosities. There are times when what I’m writing requires a 30 piece orchestra and other times where I’m writing an entire score made from household objects. I think this is why it was so important for me to explore the sounds of harvest and an album that is essentially a sonic journey of winemaking. While I’ve been a musician for over 20 years, I’ve also worked in the wine industry for 17 years. Trust me when I say the parallels between music making and winemaking are striking! So when you listen to my album HARVEST IN TWELVE PARTS, you hear the marriage between traditional instruments (guitar/violin/cello/piano) interwoven with instruments that were literally made from winemaking equipment, the sounds of the vineyard, and wineglass being bowed. The rules of art are simply in the eye of the beholder. Whether that beholder is me or another person, I can’t help but be excited about the untapped possibilities of creating.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I think one of the most challenging lessons for me to “unlearn” is to not say “yes” to every project that comes my way. When I was first starting out as a film composer, I felt like I needed to earn my stripes. That would require me to take on any and every project that came my way. And in many ways, I’m glad I did it. It was a great way for me to gain experience quickly. But that ethos seemed to be strongly encouraged by others in the industry. “Never say no”. So that’s what I did. I figured, I could always find a way to make it happen. And for a while I did. Keep in mind, not only am I a composer, but I work full time at a winery. My family was also growing. When I started my film scoring journey, by oldest daughter was not even 1 year old. Since then my wife and I have had another daughter and within the past year, we welcomed twins to the family. This means in order to be the best in every phase of my life, there’s no time to waste. It’s also meant that I really need to think about the types of projects I want to take on. Sometimes I simply can’t work on two films at once, or perhaps there’s a film where the story doesn’t move me the way that I would hope it would. As my network of collaborators has grown over the years, it can be challenging to say yes to everyone. I’m learning to say “no” to projects, but I still don’t like it. But if I didn’t say “no” from time to time, I don’t think I could give my best to my family and to my collaborators. I think it’s important to regularly self-assess your priorities, and use that as a guide to determine if a project is write for you. If you’re constantly saying “yes” but your gut is telling you no, it can create cracks in your foundation.

Contact Info:

• Website: brookmunro.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/brookmunro
• Youtube: youtube.com/@brookmunro9322

Image Credits
Photos by Michelle Cordova