Tina Kakadelis
Is there anything more Canadian than stealing barrels of maple syrup? It’s an idea that sounds too farfetched to be real, but it is. The Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist is the (loose) inspiration behind Prime Video’s The Sticky. Ruth (Margo Martindale) is a maple syrup farmer who turns to crime when bureaucratic red tape threatens to take away everything she’s worked for. The Sticky is a dry comedy filled with French covers of ’60s American pop songs to create an oddball heist story. Supporting the show’s quirky tone is FM Le Sieur’s score, which draws inspiration from swing and Quebec folk music. Le Sieur sat down with TV Obsessive’s Tina Kakadelis to discuss his use of real maple syrup barrels, the percussion-forward nature of the score, and how he blended multiple genres to create a distinctly Canadian score.
The transcript has been edited for clarity and space.
TV Obsessive: Let’s dive right into some maple syrup. Were you familiar with the Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist before you joined The Sticky?
FM Le Sieur: Honestly, I remember reading about it and finding it silly, but nothing more. Like most people, I didn’t realize that much money was in syrup. When I was sent the script, I did my own research and realized it was a big deal.
Do you like maple syrup?
I love it. I’m a sugarholic (laughs).
When did you join the show? How far into production was it?
Normally it’s always the end for music, especially on TV series. The first time I talked with Ed [Herro] and Brian [Donovan], I think there were still three weeks left of shooting. Then the strike happened. The strike arrived so suddenly that I didn’t know what was happening. I might be doing this show, but I might not. Fall came and then it was finished shooting.
One of the main unlikely instruments that you use is the barrels from the show. Why did you want to use them? Can you talk about the different ways they were included in the score?
Okay, it’s a good question. One of the first edits I received, you see the size of the barrel. I, and I’m sure most people, never imagined a barrel of that size. I thought of small maple syrup. I never envisioned an oil barrel that was huge. It really did strike me.
I’m sure you interview other composers and they talk about the distance between a concept and reality. If it actually works. I had a couple things that I recorded in the past that I sampled, and then I discovered other audio banks where they’ve got all kinds of barrel sounds that I mixed. Then I started experimenting with the barrel and a violin bow. Circling the top, tapping it with metal. You take everything you find and you make it your own. I used all types of tapping on the barrel in the score. A lot.
Did you use anything else from the show? Maple syrup or sap or trees?
This is an Easter egg. I use this can of maple syrup at a point in Episode 5 when Ruth explains the way she’s going to do the heist. At one point, she ends up tapping on things and I tap on this (holds up a can of syrup). It could have been anything, but I tap on the can. That’s the Easter egg.
That’s great! I love that it’s a can of maple syrup. We don’t have that in the states.
Oh, no, I think you got the little glass jar.
Yes. The can is very Canadian. I’ve never seen that. The score is acoustic, but then the songs that accompany it are big and brassy. Did that style come about after you had already finished the score?
No, it was already there in the first version of the edit. It was very, very funny for me because, even for Canadians, there’s something very tacky in a funny way with these soundtrack songs. It’s the story of our local music before people realize, hey, we can do our own songs instead of covering American music.
In the ’60s, I think many countries were doing their own versions of songs from the States. You’d have the French version of American hits in French from France. In our show, some are Quebecois, some are French. In one of my first discussions with Brian about the score, we all agreed that I didn’t have to play the comedy.
Right away I said, okay, good, because I find the show has similarities to Fargo. The movie, not the TV series, which is very good too, but the Carter Burwell score from the movie is very different from what I’ve done. The score plays a counterpoint, almost like a black comedy. Make it funny in another way. Right from the beginning, I know where all the soundtrack songs would go. Okay, that’s the song here, so I have to fade out here, but I didn’t try to match anything.
Do you feel it’s difficult to compose for a comedy?
I’m a good subject for comedy. I’m very happy. I’m laughing every time. After 500 times I still giggle. So maybe I’m a good subject. I don’t think it’s difficult, but people sometimes don’t realize that when you do comedy, you don’t necessarily play to the comedy very often. Even in the rom com or whatever, the music is there to play over the romantic moment.
One of the beautiful parts of the show is the character of Remy (Guillaume Cyr). It’s almost a tragic comedy because he really wants to be the good guy, but he struggles. I don’t know which episode, the second or third, when Ruth goes over to his place and tries to persuade him to join her. So very often in comedy, you have to play this thing without being over the top, which is always, for every composer, the challenge of finding the right balance for those emotions.
I like to play comedy. It’s even easier when you’ve got those brassy songs because they play a role that you can complement and counterbalance.
The glistentar plays a large role in your score…
Yes, let me see if I can show it to you. There are no frets, so you can play like a sitar. I used this in Episode 5 because I wanted to have something to make tension, but without being James Bond. Instead of a guitar, I used the glistentar because you’ve got two strings. It’s a bit technical, but on the 12-string guitar, the strings are one octave of difference. The fact that there’s no fretting, I think it can sound funny sometimes.
I also used a lot of the dobro type of guitar. When you talk about the oil barrel, instead of a guitar, I used a dobro because it’s metal. There’s something clanky about this, so I used the dobro. I even used a ukulele that I detuned. All kinds of stuff to give our show our own personality.
And does that sound come from Quebec folk music? Because that instrument sounds a little folky.
The big difference between Western folk music and Quebec folk music is that we don’t have the blues here. The influence is Irish. A lot of what you would call a jig. I even took nice shoes and I did this (taps his feet on the ground rhythmically). I did that. I used a spoon but suddenly it was funny. So what was left? I’ve got a bigger fiddle and I’ve got a harmonica. I play a lot of harmonica, but I didn’t play it like on a blues song or even like Bob Dylan.
I play almost like a very sweet, odd mix with the harmonica. It gives a loneliness that we can attribute also to Quebec folk. This very simple, minimalistic-but-acoustic score. That’s the mix for this kind of folk music that I did with percussion, barrels, drums, and things like that.
I want to ask about percussion too. I used to play drums in middle school, and then I quit for the tuba instead. I wanted to be louder, I guess.
You got good lungs (laughs).
Yeah (laughs). When I come across a percussion-heavy score, I’m always interested in asking about it because of the few years I spent playing drums. Does your process change when you’re composing something that’s percussion-focused as opposed to melody-focused?
When you’re in comedy, percussion very often plays a clear role. If you watch the new movie, Saturday Night, it’s almost like a song. The dialog of the characters is the lyrics, so you have to be behind. The difference here, I tried to be very close to the picture. You need a very, very good drummer. You have to be very precise for this thing to be good and not get in the way of the dialogue.
There’s a bit of a jazz feeling to some of the score. That might not be the right genre, but how do folk and jazz music combine in your score?
Well, you associate it with jazz, but in fact it’s swing, but you know what? This is a good question because I use a lot of percussion at the beginning. When you have percussion and you want to still make it a comedy, the drums can’t sound like a military march. So the swing rhythm comes naturally. I didn’t have to play to the comedy, but the only time I brought a bit of lightness was with the double bass. So of course if you put double bass and you already have the swing rhythm, it sounds a bit jazzy, but I didn’t realize it until I read your question.
The swing also works well because there’s a bit of the show’s mystery with this rhythm. That’s maybe where this jazz influence comes from. It’s a melting pot.
Thank you so much for your time.
Thank you and Happy New Year.
Happy New Year!
