“I think, initially, Ubisoft approached me because of my electronic music background – my live career, my albums, my touring. But I didn’t know if I was the right person for the job, you know?”
Composer Brendan Angelides has never worked in video game music before. You might know him better as Eskmo or Welder, or perhaps as the mind behind the music of TV shows 13 Reasons Why or Billions. When Ubisoft approached him to be the composer for its sort-of reboot of the Assassin’s Creed franchise, Mirage, he had doubts. The game is set at the height of the Islamic golden age, and centres around Baghdad: a hub flowing with the lifeblood of a changing world, a cultural centre of art and science, old and new.
“When I first learned that the new Assassin’s Creed takes place in 9th-century Baghdad, I was excited at the prospect of diving into unfamiliar territory,” he explains to me in the middle of a recording session, where the last organic elements of his score are being finalised by the New York Arabic Orchestra. “It was an opportunity to connect with a community that has a tremendous wealth of talented musicians.”
But Angelides does not have Arabic heritage, and did not come into the project with a depth of knowledge about how music from that part of the world works. Ubisoft approached him because of the nature of the work he’d done before; similar to Jesper Kyd – the musical architect of the entire Assassin’s Creed series – Angelides is renowned for fusing the orchestral and the electronic, creating weird electronica that’s powerful enough to capture your attention but understated enough not to overwhelm. Perfect for a video game soundtrack, then. But he needed help. Mirage, like the rest of the Assassin’s Creed series, needed to be as historically authentic as possible … and an electronic composer from Connecticut knew he couldn’t do that by himself.
“The first person I reached out to was my friend Emel Mathlouthi, who is a Tunisian artist and performer based in New York,” he says. “The next person I sought out was Layth Sidiq, who is an Iraqi-born Jordanian violinist and the artistic director for the New York Arabic Orchestra.” As we chat, that same orchestra is recording a track for the game behind us, and little teases of the emotive, minor key composition begin to lay the foundations for what this game is about: innocence, tragedy, madness, revenge.
Sidiq understood Angelides’ motivations and introduced him to Akram Haddad, a Palestinian composer and orchestrator (currently a professor at the New England Conservatory) teaching Middle Eastern music. It was a match made in heaven: Haddad had taught western music while living in Jerusalem, and now taught Middle Eastern music out of New England. The game – primarily aimed at a western audience – needed to be familiar enough to western ears while incorporating Middle Eastern elements for historical accuracy. Haddad and his work sat at the intersection.
We’re sitting in an isolated vocal booth in a disused power station relay in the middle of New York City, and it feels very apt. This studio is at the intersection of art and science, a huge building once used to divert power to downtown New York, hollowed out, now redressed and rebuilt to perfectly capture the sounds of orchestras, rock bands and pop acts from all around the world. The Power Station walls are decorated with albums recorded here: Bowie, Springsteen, Madonna, Paul McCartney, Diana Ross. And now, Assassin’s Creed.
“Working with Brendan has been an amazing experience for me,” says Haddad. “He sought me out intentionally as a collaborator, and from the very beginning there was a strong sense of mutual respect and musical admiration.” Haddad notes that Angelides gave him a lot of freedom when letting him loose on the compositions the latter had worked on so far.
“Throughout our collaboration, there was a great sense of camaraderie and a shared passion for creating something new and exciting,” continues Haddad. “It was clear that we both had a deep love and appreciation for music, and that we were committed to pushing the boundaries of what was possible in our respective traditions.”
This is something both musicians kept coming back to in the interview: respect. Haddad repeatedly outlined his awe at Angelides’ “ability to blend electronic and acoustic elements in a way that feels both organic and cutting edge”, while Angelides could not overstate his appreciation for the way Haddad embodied “a sonic blend of western meets Middle Eastern”. The two men told me that they’re already talking about working together after this project.
You can hear the evidence of this bond in the music. As unlikely as it may seem, the fusion of electronic and orchestral gels effortlessly with the fusion of Arabic and western. “When incorporating elements from Arabic music into a western soundscape, it’s essential to be mindful of the specific musical idioms and techniques that are characteristic of that tradition,” says Haddad. “For example, the use of trills, microtones, glissandos, and so on, can add a distinctly Arabic flavour to a melody, but these elements need to be carefully integrated into the harmony and overall texture of the piece to avoid sounding out of place, or forced.
“At the same time, it’s also important to be mindful of the intended audience and musical context. If the composition is for a big-budget gaming project with a primarily western audience, it may be necessary to adapt the Arabic musical elements in a way that feels familiar and accessible to that audience. This could involve using more familiar western harmonic structures or incorporating Arabic elements in a subtle and understated way.”
The Assassin’s Creed Mirage soundtrack is powerful. Watching the orchestra work towards the climax of one of the main pieces that was being recorded in the Power Station studio, I saw gooseflesh prick up on the arms of almost everyone in the room. A moment of eye contact between Haddad in the composer’s spot with the orchestra, and Angelides standing to attention in the recording studio, suggested that they’d nailed it with this take.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage will launch on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC in 2023.
