Lakeshore Records released For A Good Time, Call... Original Motion Picture Score digitally on September 11, 2012. John Swihart (Napoleon Dynamite, Youth in Revolt) composed the original music.
"Jamie is an incredible talent," said Swihart of director Jamie Travis. "We discussed a lot of things in the process. We just needed to make this elegantly understated and very palatable." For an 'indie' film, Swihart's score was a bit more traditional, utilizing a string quartet, a few woodwinds, piano and percussion. "There were a couple cues with drums and guitar but those were for the more climactic moments."
Unique sounds and surprising instrument choices put John Swihart on a path to creating unpredictable contemporary scores. His distinctive style can be heard in over 40 films.
John Swihart was raised in Bloomington, Indiana, the son of a physicist based at Indiana University. He would leave Indiana to attend the renowned Berklee College of Music, in Boston, which was an eye-opener in many ways for Swihart. At Berklee, John was struck by the level of commitment of his classmates to immerse themselves in musical experimentation. Artists like the "minimalist" Steve Reich and Brian Eno became big influences on John's musical development at that time.
After years as a musical drifter (ie: house painter, bike messenger) and performing in numerous bands, John decided it was time to put a studio together. The corporate communications and advertising work came, but the Emerson student films that John worked on made it clear that this would be the least restrictive and most creatively rewarding experience. Around that time John joined the Boston production of Blue Man Group, eventually performing in their New York and Las Vegas shows as well.
When Swihart finally made it to Los Angeles, he scored a few independent films before his breakout project Napoleon Dynamite premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004. His music continues to be heard on television series including the new Matthew Perry-fronted series Go On and the hit CBS series How I Met Your Mother. His upcoming films include the David O. Russell-directed Nailed, thriller Happy And Bleeding, and the film adaptation of Dean Koontz's New York Time best-selling novel Odd Thomas.
Love and friendship are on the line in For a Good Time, Call..., directed by Jamie Travis from an original screenplay by Katie Anne Naylon & Ms. Miller. The contemporary comedy world-premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, lifting audiences to their feet and lifting their spirits. Two young women come up short on the funds needed to live in New York City. Lauren Powell (played by Ms. Miller), a reserved overachiever, is suddenly on her own. Katie Steele (Ms. Graynor), an irrepressible free spirit, is about to forfeit a dream residence unless she finds an apartment-mate. Without options, Lauren reluctantly moves in with Katie. With nothing in common, she and Katie barely speak—until Lauren discovers that Katie is working as a phone-sex operator. This is, Lauren reasons, a good business opportunity; together, they will buy a land line and start up their own answering service. Katie is—it would seem—already in her element, and Lauren catches on quick; it's not long before the blushing subsides and the candid chatting becomes second nature to her. But as their business partnership takes off, Lauren and Katie's newfound friendship finds unexpected challenges that may leave them both, as they say, hanging on the telephone.
"I watched [director] Jamie Travis' short film (which I loved) and I knew he had a taste for a certain amount of fantasy," said Swihart. "This film was a lot more mainstream than his shorts so I also knew we could not get too far out with the score. It needed to be effective and not distracting, but give us a richer aesthetic experience."
He continued, "The first scene I worked on was for Lauren's walk through Gramercy Park near the beginning of the film. This moment would likely be the extreme moment of fantasy that would be in the film and would help me define just how far I could go in that direction."