There’s something quite eerily comforting about music that has a lot of dissonance, maybe because it makes you think more as a listener, or perhaps fuels the desire to go deeper and explore what that sonic wilderness has to offer, and the latest single by Seth Schaeffer, I Found A Monster, is without a doubt a similar kind of song. Born in Colorado and currently based out of Nashville. Seth happens to be a music producer as well as a filmmaker, and that is quite evident in the quality and artistry of his compositions, which primarily draws the attention of the listeners due to the cinematic soundscape.
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Let us find out what this song has to offer the listeners.
The latest single by Seth Schaeffer, I Found A Monster, is a quite dark and dissonant track that packs an intense atmospheric vibe where you cannot help but find yourself in the middle of a labyrinth of sonic elements that are surely going to blow your mind. Besides that, the instrumentation of this track offers a beautiful blend of classical and modern experimental ideas that come together as a pure cinematic experience, one that does not require visual stimulation but rather needs patient, curious, and attentive listening to enjoy it fully.
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We were lucky to get a chance to speak to Seth about this song. So here’s what he has to say about it:
1) Hello Seth, first of all, the song I Found a Monster is a beautiful composition! But before we go into that, would you like to tell us about some of your musical influences in general or specifically for this song?
Thank you so much for the kind words. I listen to all kinds of music, including Miles Davis, Daft Punk, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Sting, Billie Eilish, LCD Soundsystem, Coldplay, Teddy Swims, Bon Iver, Hans Zimmer, and so many more. I’m moved by musical world-building and surprise. I like music to take me on a journey, and in that way, “I Found a Monster” echoes all of these influences throughout.
Besides that, I also try to approach each song with an open mind to what the song wants or needs. I don’t want to get bored listening to it, and once the world is set, I want it to take me on a journey.
2) I would primarily like to focus on the overall vibe of the song. It has so much dissonance, yet feels so calming. So what was your idea behind the writing of the song?
I love the way you put this; it’s dissonance and calm all at once. “I Found a Monster” is about discovering myself behind a mask I’ve worn in the world in order to be “okay.” The dissonance is absolutely the struggle of realizing how much time I spent hiding in plain sight, in an attempt to fit in or play a role that other people liked. The ‘monster’ is the truest version of myself I know how to access. It’s about realizing life is too short to fake anything, and the unfiltered, bold version of myself deserves love and doesn’t deserve to be hidden because of the fears my younger self learned to believe were important.
3) Now, coming to the specific musical elements of the composition. I felt it had a nice blend of classical and experimental elements in it. So would you like to walk us through the compositional ideas and elements you’ve used in this song?
The feel of the song started on this beat-up acoustic bass that only has three working strings on it. The strings that were on it when I bought it were WAY too heavy. I had to release all the pressure on the neck to get the action lower, and the really low tuning inspired the intro part. It blended really well with my Minibrute synth, using the tuning knob to drift the lines in and out of tune.
I then added the piano parts and kept hearing the song beg for that huge symphonic line that drops in. As I started to build things out, I kept hearing parts I wanted in there that built up to what it is. I had plenty of ideas I had to scrap, but I loved the blend of predictable lines and chaos that plays out throughout the track.
4) The vocals and harmonies sound beautiful and almost as if they elevate the vibe of the song. In addition to that, the overall track has so much clarity. So I am really curious to know about the song’s recording process. Can you tell us how you went about it?
So many parts of this song were recorded very quietly, but with a couple of key pre-amps super cranked. I used the Westrex 1474 on the acoustic bass with a WA47 tube mic. For the vocals, I tracked the WA47 through the Westrex and a U87AI through a Focusrite Red at the same time. The really wide sound in the intro comes from both mic tracks being thrown hard left and hard right. I used Krotos Dehumaniser to add a monster version of my vocals as a texture, and Emily Hatch sang the same lines behind my voice to help with tone. It’s subtle, but it all adds up to what it is in the final.
Musically speaking, I worked with great musicians to get the strings, vocals, and trumpet in there. On the strings and vocals, I encouraged them to play the lines in key but to take time wandering around it as we got there. The choir parts are cluster chords that drift between lots of dissonant notes. This was fun to track, and the result was superbly haunting at the same time as feeling strangely comforting.
All of the tracks were summed through a Rupert Neve summing mixer with the Red Silk activated. This helped glue the sparkle together, keeping the track wide without feeling like it’s fighting itself.
And then… Sam Moses is a genius and so good at nailing a sound. He really brought the final mix to life.
5) Which other musicians join forces with you on this track ?
I had such an amazing group of people helping me with this song. Emily Hatch and Judah Schaeffer were on background vocals and sound effects. I met some of my other collaborators on Musiversal (musiversal.com) and have loved working with them (on this song and my upcoming tracks). Marco Pescosolido played cello, Nikos Mavridis played viola and violin, and Vigilance Brandon played the trumpet parts.
Sam Moses wasn’t a musician but absolutely helped the music with his mastering.
6) What can the fans expect from you in the near future?
At this moment, I’m working on a collection of singles I’m really excited to share. “I Found a Monster” is just one corner of the genre canvas I play in. As an artist, my songs naturally go to a world-building feel with a cinematic edge, but some are more calm, and some will make you want to dance or sing along. I’m working on a few collaborations and some scores for films (More on that later).
My next release, “I Can’t Breathe The Water,” is about as tense and dark as I intend to go, but for good reason, like about processing grief. It’s tense, slow, explosive, peaceful in moments, angry, and restrained. I hope people who have dealt with grief or are processing grief feel heard. That song will be out on or before October 1, 2025. People can follow me anywhere they’d like, including at www.sethschaeffer.com
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So now that you know what you can expect from this latest composition by Seth Schaeffer, go ahead and check it out because you will surely like it. You can listen to the song here:
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