Drawing a Sonic Line Between Sound and Story
Founded in 2019 by multi-award winning music supervisor, Peymon Maskan, Radish Music collaborates with artists, directors, and creative minds to craft one-of-a-kind musical moments which resonate in culture. For their latest work with software giant, Adobe, the music supervision company recruited electronic pop duo, Sylvan Esso, to create a joyful reimagining of Neil Diamond’s culture defining ‘Sweet Caroline’.
Having led music efforts for some of the world’s most recognisable brands - Jeep, McDonald's, Capital One, Miller Lite - Radish Music’s Alec Stern provided sonic supervision to the company’s latest collaboration with Adobe. Working successfully with Adobe on a handful of commercial projects since 2020, the ‘Sweet Caroline’ brief was by far the biggest creative swing yet and Radish Music was thrilled to be entrusted with finding an inventive solution.
Sitting down with LBB’s April Summers to discuss the creative ideation and execution, Alec reveals how his team landed on a music act that emitted the desired sense of childlike wonder and excitement, securing a sound that sold the story at the heart of the creative.
LBB> What musical requirements were outlined in the initial brief? At what point in the process were Radish brought on board?
Alec> We were brought in as the idea was really picking up steam on the brand side. We understood the creative idea of a little girl bringing her dream house to life had been a passion project for the team for quite some time, and they had new technology where that idea could authentically be made.
The song ‘Sweet Caroline’ had been part of the initial brainstorm, and from a creative lens, there’s really no topping it. Our job became “how do you make an institutionally beloved 55 year old song feel exciting and meaningful to a new generation? And, given the specific story being told, can you make it sound as full of childlike wonder as a child's imagination?” We had to do all of that in a way that would respectfully nod to the original and get not just Mr. Diamond’s stamp of approval, but the approval of millions of people who are very tied to the recording they’ve heard all their lives – but that’s what makes our jobs fun.
LBB> Why did this song feel like the right choice for this spot?
Alec> Part of it was logistical because there were elements of the arrangement we felt would really serve our story: it’s got a joyful but understated verse which we figured would work great for the setup; a really wonderful build-up in the pre-chorus; and of course the explosion of the chorus itself. The song is structured in a way where we could build anticipation and ultimately reveal the creative connective tissue (the name Caroline) at the very end.
And then there’s the part where logic is just logic, and it pales in comparison to the emotional part, which is just how beloved, joyful, and universally recognised the song is. We also hadn’t really heard anyone else cover it, so it felt like exciting new territory for the brand to own.
LBB> How does the music of this spot align with Adobe’s brand building objectives?
Alec> They’re a rare brand that lives to serve creative people, and that extends to the music they choose. For us, as people hired to inventively problem solve and create solutions around music, there are few better strategic briefs than wanting to sound like creativity. And that means doing things differently, looking forward, bridging gaps, and tapping into unexpected influences. For example, we did another project for them recently where we licensed “Three Eyes Open” by Greentea Peng, and someone we were meeting with the other week commented “a dope psychedelic trip-hop song soundtracking a commercial?” We’re hugely appreciative of and inspired by partners like this: who are willing to try exciting new ways to engage through music.
LBB> Electronic pop duo Sylvan Esso recorded an original cover of the song for this spot. At what point in the process did they come aboard? And why did they feel like the right fit for the job?
Alec> Once everyone aligned on 'Sweet Caroline', we were tasked with finding the right collaborator to bring it to life. We tackle every project that requires original music from the same lens that Peymon and I applied back when we were music directors at agencies: it’s all about curation. Who out there, in the big wide world of music creation, feels like the most exciting fit? Sometimes it’s a commercial composer, but sometimes it’s someone who works in film, or trailers, or it’s a music house, or it’s an artist we love who we’ve heard is great at custom or is interested in diving into that world. We start every project with a blank canvas, which can mean a lot more work upfront, but tends to lead to more inspiring results.
For this project, there were a handful of artists, producers, and composers who felt like a natural fit to take this on – artists who’d created work that we could close our eyes and envision what their take on ‘Sweet Caroline’ would sound like to some degree. This is where I have to give the most credit to the brand – they pushed us to shoot for the moon. They wanted something really unexpected, and something that would give the work a wholly unique stamp, musically. We started talking about artists who exhibited a sense of childlike wonder and excitement, and Sylvan Esso immediately came to mind. But it was a gamble: there was essentially nothing in their catalogue that we could draw any type of sonic line between Neil Diamond and what they do. They were, frankly, a totally wild card idea, but we couldn’t shake the feeling that there was an imaginative essence to their approach that felt worth exploring.
LBB> Can you tell us a bit about the process of collaborating with an artist to compose a bespoke cover for advertising?
Alec> We’ve been lucky to collaborate with a pinch-me list of artists in past work, including Billie Eilish and Finneas, Cat Power, Maisey & Lennon Stella, Stevie Wonder & Andra Day, Andrew Bird, Hauschka and now Sylvan Esso.
Artists have a magical way of speaking to their audience that is impossible to replicate or fake, so the attraction of working with an artist on a bespoke piece is powerful. But there’s a lot about this peculiar type of music creation - writing to brief, receiving feedback from clients, telling a story or creating a world in a highly condensed amount of time - where having a collaborative and experienced team makes a world of difference. My team and I will often talk with artists before engaging them creatively, helping prepare them for what to expect, letting them know how Radish will be supporting them, and making sure to ask all the right logistical and creative questions of the client up-front that can make the whole process run smoothly. In reality, what we’re trying to preserve is the most precious resource they have, which is their inspired state. In their normal workflow, if an artist loses inspiration for a song, they move on to the next one and maybe come back to it in a year when inspiration strikes. But the demands of an ad don’t allow for that. For us, the setup and pre-vetting is everything.
LBB> What makes Radish Music the best team for the job of scoring a commercial like this one?
Alec> We’re a young company that set up shop during the pandemic and we’re super ambitious. Peymon and I come from the agency world, where I worked on brands such as Skittles, Miller Lite, and Capital One, while Peymon was dedicated to Apple, so we have first-hand experience of how agencies operate. Our most distinctive differentiator is that we do high-level film and TV work in addition to ads, all of which have found really interesting and exciting ways to bleed into one another through our work. We curate every scoring job with the widest possible talent bench. All of it led to a diverse array of music-driven work we’re enormously proud of, where we’re able to tackle every project with the great balance of knowledge and expertise of previous experience, and a real genuine curiosity and excitement that comes from being a young company.
LBB> How significant is the role of music for this project? What influence does it have on the spot?
Alec> To me, the music in this work brings you into our narrator’s mind. It sounds like a tiny magical, awe-inspired moment of pure unencumbered imagination. We had a couple other remarkably talented “pinch me”-level artists demo on this, and Sylvan Esso’s was the most distinctly specific to the world of the work. They took the chords and framework of one of the most well-known songs of our time and outfitted them in a completely reimagined way. So by the time the chorus hits, with Amelia’s singular vocal coming through, all of your memories of the song meet the moment. We pushed for the band to put as much of themselves into the recording as possible, including many of the sound design elements you hear in the final version. It was their brainchild, and it feels like this idea of childlike creativity unleashed really tapped into something for them.
LBB> What reaction are you hoping the spot receives?
Alec> I hope it makes people smile. If anyone were to feel the tiniest bit of warmth and think “I needed a little brightness today” as a result, that would be a lovely thing to know we were a part of.
