Interview: Wolfboy and the Everything Factory Composer Xav Clarke

Apple TV+’s new series Wolfboy and the Everything Factory is now streaming and follows an oddball dreamer named Wolfboy as he discovers a strange realm where fantastical beings create things for the natural world above.

To score the series, composer Xav Clarke (Elliot From Earth, The Amazing World of Gumball) was given the brief to “go weird, be experimental, and take chances.” What he created is an organic score as playful, curious, and creative as the titular character himself. His music has a purposeful roughness to it in keeping with the creative mantra to make it sound as if Wolfboy could have made the music himself in the Everything Factory!

ComingSoon spoke with Xav about his playful new score, and the composer discussed his approach to the series along with what drew him to the world of film and TV composing.

Jeff Ames: First, let’s talk about you for a second: how did you get involved with TV/Film composing?

Xav Clarke: I used to work as a runner at a post-production studio in London and they recorded a show there called The Amazing World of Gumball. One of the voice directors Richard Overall was always in to record the actors and they would get me into the booth to record little bits of funny vocals and things sometimes. Eventually, he asked me to write a song for the show, which was a huge honor and the doorway for me to get into writing music for animation. From there I just kept working away at it, while I was on tour with my band if a job came in, I’d work on it before soundcheck or something.

You scored Elliott From Earth and The Amazing World of Gumball — how did your work on those series prepare you for future projects like Wolfboy?

Both those shows were insane hubs of creativity, Ben Lockett was the composer for The Amazing World of Gumball – his work was really inspiring and I would write songs and additional score here and there, which meant I could teach myself how to write to picture. Then when Cartoon Network asked me to score Elliott From Earth, it was really chocs away and I got to compose my first full series music. So in that way, before arriving at Wolfboy, I had already had experience composing themes for a series and writing songs. However, I knew that I didn’t want to repeat myself and that the music I made for Wolfboy was going to be very different.

What drew you to Wolfboy and the Everything Factory?

When I got sent the animatics for the pitch, it was love at first sight. I couldn’t believe my eyes to be honest, it was the kind of show I’d always wished had existed, and I couldn’t believe that it might be me that got to make the music for this incredible universe. So psychedelic and epic, but also warm and emotional. When I had a zoom to meet the team ahead of the pitch, I was so excited I said something remarkably dumb like “Firstly, I just LOVE this show, it’s the best thing” and instantly thought “you’ve blown it Xav,” so I had to work extra hard on the pitch, I locked myself away for six days, except for some invigoratingly freezing February swims to get the creative juices flowing (my studio is right on the beach) – when I did sleep in those days I was genuinely dreaming of the Everything Factory. Luckily my enthusiasm and love for the show did win through in the blind pitch and here we are.

Your music is at times playful and fun, but also surprisingly dramatic and reflective in tracks such as “I Knew It!” and “Memory Books.” How much freedom did you have with this particular score — and what was your overall approach?

I’m very nostalgic and reflective in general and I love to try and channel feelings I have about the past into my music. The warmth and comfort/sadness of memories that you can’t put your arms around, this show seemed to touch on so many themes I love. I had more freedom with the score than on any project I’ve worked on before. I’m very grateful to the amazing executive producers and team at Apple who always encouraged me to be as unusual and experimental as I could. After all, the show is mostly set in a world none of us have ever been to before, so how could we know what that would sound like? It was an amazing blank slate to have. The overall approach derived from the idea that the music should sound like Wolfboy could have made it himself. Show creator Toff Mazery told me that that’s how he imagined the music to sound, very crafty and warm. It was such a joy and as well to work with his amazing theme he wrote for Wolfboy’s Mum. That theme is the basis of the cue “I Knew It!!!” and “The Piano,” and it pops up throughout the score at lots of crucial moments. Toff is also a brilliant musician!

In tracks like “The Memory Maze Guildeling” you play around with a number of different sounds — where do you draw your inspiration? (Some composers I’ve spoken to mention they are hit with inspiration randomly while walking through the grocery store, others need time to reflect, etc.)

My friend Adam Sullivan once told me that his technique for falling asleep was to combine two things and imagine how they’d look. For example, “Giraffe” and “Table’ or “Elephant” and “Scissor.” A lot of times I’d see the episode first late at night (since the show was based in the US and I was over here in the UK) and then when going to bed I’d start to combine instruments and themes I’d seen from the show. For example, in the episode set in the Snow Lab, I remember falling asleep and seeing the snowflakes falling and sounding like guitar harmonics as they hit the ground.

Were there instruments or equipment utilized for this score that you had never worked with before?

The only rule for this show was stay away from any cold digital-sounding things! Beware of the synth!

So I ended up making samples of a lot of my instruments and twisting them through effects pedals and stretching them around here and there.

I used the tapping of the pads on my flute as a percussion quite alot! Pitching them down. Also, my voice, I used for so many moments in the score, which I’d never had the luxury of featuring so prominently before.

I sampled elastic bands and played my electric guitar with my iPhone. Anything that I thought of I had the luxury of trying, which was so lucky. there’s lots of reverse sounds in the show that I just did with my mouth, pretending to sound like a proper reverse cymbal or something.

I found on Pianobook a sample someone had made of an Ikea lamp that they kept bumping their head against. I thought that was genius and turned it into the sound for the character Sprout.

What is the most challenging aspect of scoring an animated series?

Probably the time frame, keeping to the schedules. It takes some seriously good time management!

What are you most excited for audiences to experience with your score for Wolfboy and the Everything Factory?

I’m so excited to have the release through Lakeshore Records and to have somewhere for people to go, outside of the show, where they can be reminded of the world of Wolfboy and feel transported there.

I’m very excited about the last track “The Lab Suite.” It’s a piece made up of lots of different sounds of the Labs where the Sprytes make things, Clouds, trees, rabbits, dreams, hiccups, memories, time… running at about 8 minutes. I’m really excited about that.