From social media experiment to full album release
Award-winning composer Megan McDuffee joined host Korey Luna on North² to discuss her unexpected journey into creating a full album of synthwave covers. What began as "a little experiment for social media last July" has transformed into a complete collection of reimagined 90s classics. Megan explained how the overwhelmingly positive response to her dark, moody synthwave interpretations caught her by surprise: "I didn't realize just how well they would do, how positive the responses would be to recreating songs from my youth." The album, which was released on August 22nd, features her signature dark wave synthesizer style applied to beloved tracks from the 90s era.
The art of reinvention through synthwave
Megan shared insights into her creative process for transforming rock anthems into atmospheric electronic pieces. She described the unique challenge of working with existing material while maintaining her artistic identity: "taking a rock song and then boiling it down to like, super cool synth bass lines and really dreamy ambient pads and sparkly things like that." Her approach involves slowing down tempos, subtly altering chord progressions, and delivering vocals with what she calls a "dark, quiet, vibey, nighttime" quality. The composer particularly caught attention with her reimagining of Type O Negative tracks, which resonated strongly with fans of both the original band and synthwave music.
Building a New Creative Space While Juggling Projects
During the interview, Megan revealed she's in the midst of a major studio renovation, converting her garage into a comprehensive recording and dance studio space. The project, which she admitted has been more complex than buying their house, will provide 420 square feet of additional creative space. Despite the construction chaos, she continues to balance multiple projects, including scoring for the upcoming video game Streets of Rogue Two, on which she's created over an hour of music during the past year and a half. Her dedication to both her craft and her other passion, pole dancing, which she's practiced 2-3 times weekly for six years, showcases her commitment to maintaining creative and physical balance.
The River City Girls effect on her career
Megan's vocal work on the River City Girls soundtrack marked a pivotal moment in her career trajectory. She explained how the developers at Wayforward had the innovative idea to have her voice a rock star character whose music would subtly lead players through the game. Drawing an analogy to Danny Elfman's work as Jack Skellington, she noted: "I was basically singing as this character from River City." This successful integration of her vocals into the gaming experience has since become her calling card, with developers specifically seeking her out for projects requiring vocal contributions to game soundtracks.
Looking forward with new originals and continuing evolution
Beyond the covers album, Megan is already working on a collection of original material that combines the atmospheric elements of her covers with the intensity of tracks like "Leviathan." Her musical influences span from Depeche Mode's brooding soundscapes to the eclectic experimentation of Beck, whom she admires for having "such a different style for every release but always sound like Beck." With her Sequential Pro Three synthesizer and Roland Juno-6 ready for her expanded studio space, Megan is positioned to continue pushing boundaries in both video game composition and her personal artistic projects, proving that sometimes the best creative directions come from unexpected social media experiments.
