About
Alexa
Alexa L. Borden
Alexa L. Borden is an L.A.-based composer from Philadelphia, PA. She attended both Berklee College of Music and Moravian College for her bachelors degree in Music Composition, and holds an MFA in Music Composition for the Screen from Columbia College Chicago. In addition to her solo work, Alexa also frequently collaborates on projects with fellow film composer, Connor Cook.
Alexa has used her love of classic rock music and her training in both classical and modern piano, harpsichord, and voice to compose music for a wide variety of projects, including short and feature films, musicals, and video games spanning many genres and styles.
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On Composing & Musical Style, From Alexa's Interview with VoyageLA:
"As a composer, I’ve always been very attuned to the emotional needs of a scene, whether they call for subtlety of a single note or for the music to really draw out the depth or excitement with a recurrent theme. I’m always thinking of the musical language of the film, from the first viewing: what instruments does this film need, do we need to create new sounds for a sonic landscape, does the film want a theme, what do we need to communicate to the audience through the music, do we need to reiterate what the film is already saying or state something musically that might not be there yet? All of this gets discussed with the filmmaker and we work together to create the score.
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My inspiration comes from the eclectic mix of genres I was raised on, from classic rock to classical, grunge to pop, folk to Baroque, and so much in between. I’m a vocalist in addition to a multi-instrumentalist, and I’d joined every musical ensemble I could in college: jazz, musical theatre, improv, choirs, acapella groups, marching band, orchestra, Baroque (I can’t get enough harpsichord and choir in my life)… I bring all of this with me when I sit down compose, and it has led to a reputation for being a very adaptable composer who’s always ready to pick up an instrument and lay down some live tracks when a cue calls for it.
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The diverse musical background has allowed me to wear many hats. I’ve orchestrated contemporary folk musicals while creating new sample instruments for psychological thriller scores, written and recorded original pop songs for holiday films while scoring horror films with experimental techniques, composing soft piano solo scores for dreamlike dramas while writing prog-rock/Gregorian chant hybrid numbers for musical adaptions. It’s been a wild journey that I wouldn’t trade for anything.
In terms of what I’m most proud of, nothing brings me more joy than when directors tell me I elevated the project with my work or brought something new that they didn’t realize they needed until they heard the score."
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To read the full interview, click HERE.
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