We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Martinius Solum a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Martinius, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I was in a rock band when I was in high school. We played many shows in our hometown, and became quite popular. We mostly played covers, but wrote a lot of own material as well. As a guitar player and songwriter, I was heavily influenced by the music of John Mayer. I listened to his music every single day, learned all his songs and practiced his solos. Day in and day out. There was something about how he expressed himself through music, that resonated more with me than any other artist or band before. And as I wrote my own songs, I took a lot of inspiration from his playing to his lyrics.
But I had also discovered the vast universe of film music.
This was at the opposite end of the musical spectrum, and I was obsessed. I was constantly looking for new film scores to listen to and discovering new composers.
Music was my life. It was what gave it purpose.
Over time, during my high school years, I felt a growing connection to music and in the end I realized that – despite some exterior pushbacks – there’s nothing else I can to that will make me feel as happy and fulfilled. I just had to do this. I knew it was going to be hard, but I would rather have given it my best, than nothing at all. It’s better to have determination destroy your doubts than doubts destroying your determination.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m a composer and music producer from Norway, currently living in Los Angeles. I studied popular music with guitar as my main instrument, but I always wanted to compose film music. So I started scoring student films in and through that network I got my first gig with arranging songs for a music game show right out of college. I continued to score short films and commercials and slowly started building a name for myself.
As a composer coming from popular music, I have a unique perspective on how to make music for visual media, and I love to combine contemporary musical elements with traditional orchestral instruments.
I have composed music for a wide variety of ensembles; two Norwegian orchestras, one Italian orchestra, and I’ve been to Warner Brothers with a full orchestra twice. I’ve worked on movies, video games, short films, tv, and commercials, while also producing music for other artists.
I’m always looking for new and interesting projects and I love exploring the world of music whatever it is.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

In high school, I discovered that there was a university in Los Angeles where you could study film music. I decided that I wanted to go there.
But LA was so far away and I felt that I wasn’t good enough. Still, I had to give it a try. Better to try and fail, than not try at all.
A couple years after getting my bachelor’s degree in popular music, I ended up applying two times, before I finally got in on the third try.
It took me 12 years from when I decided that I wanted to study film scoring at USC, until I made it.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

Being a creative is part of who I am. It’s something I can’t run from. It’s not a hobby, but it’s not work either.
I think it’s hard for non-creative people to understand that it’s not really a choice. Creativity is not a switch you can turn on or off. Inspiration might strike when you least expect it and sometimes the timing couldn’t be worse.

“The real work of the artist is a way of being in the world”.
– Rick Rubin

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.martiniussolum.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/martiniussolum/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/martiniussolum.music
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martinius-solum-74125710b/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@martiniussolum

Image Credits

Daniel Kivle
Christian Amonson
David M. Giannamore