Eric Phillips is a composer, sound designer, producer and multi-instrumentalist originally from Boston, Massachusetts. He began the composing portion of his career working under veteran composer Mark Orton, best known for his long-standing collaboration with legendary auteur filmmaker Alexander Payne (Nebraska, Oscar-winning The Holdovers). Since then, Eric has done sound design & composed music for numerous feature films, documentaries, shorts and video games. Recent credits include Higher Ground and Concordia Studios' Netflix docuseries Working, What We Do All Day starring Barack Obama, Crooked Media's Dreamtown (Tribeca 2023), Jan Haaken's award-winning documentaries (Including Our Bodies Our Doctors), and the feature film 12 Mighty Orphans. He also assisted on Payne's Oscar-winning The Holdovers. Eric has also written music for major podcasts that have won Emmys, and Ambies for folks including Bad Robot, Crooked Media, Spotify, New York Times, Pushkin, Apple, Pineapple Street and more, and has designed sound for indie games including PigSquad's Pond Water. In parallel with his scoring work, Eric performs and releases music under the moniker Kennebec, a genre-defying cinematic chamber-folk ensemble serving as a creative laboratory for Eric's most uninhibited ideas. Through Kennebec, he has collaborated with modern indie, jazz, pop, and classical luminaries including Samuel T. Herring (Future Islands), Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Sudan Archives, Yazz Ahmed, Alfa Mist, and Joe Armon-Jones. He has also shared stages with Arooj Aftab, Kevin Morby, Joep Beving, and Minus the Bear, and performed at festivals such as PDX Jazz and South by Southwest. Drawing from both classical training as well as his time producing and performing with his own experimental groups, Eric moves fluidly between crafting thematic scores for large orchestral ensembles, designing sonic worlds from field recordings and electroacoustic textures, and self-producing novel performances from his ever-growing collection of instruments from around the world, from 1920s-era guitars to waldzither, pump organ, charango, autoharp, banjo, Rhodes, ngoni, gusli, dobro, and tape machines. Outside the studio, he likes to spend his time hiking, collecting field recordings and testing new ways to make his partner Emily laugh. Recent favorites have included Pluribus, Clair Obscur, Lincoln in the Bardo and Paris, Texas.

Eric Phillips

Eric Phillips is a composer, sound designer, producer and multi-instrumentalist originally from Boston, Massachusetts. He began the composing portion of his career working under veteran composer Mark Orton, best known for his long-standing collaboration with legendary auteur filmmaker Alexander Payne (Nebraska, Oscar-winning The Holdovers). Since then, Eric has done sound design & composed music for numerous feature films, documentaries, shorts and video games. Recent credits include Higher Ground and Concordia Studios' Netflix docuseries Working, What We Do All Day starring Barack Obama, Crooked Media's Dreamtown (Tribeca 2023), Jan Haaken's award-winning documentaries (Including Our Bodies Our Doctors), and the feature film 12 Mighty Orphans. He also assisted on Payne's Oscar-winning The Holdovers. Eric has also written music for major podcasts that have won Emmys, and Ambies for folks including Bad Robot, Crooked Media, Spotify, New York Times, Pushkin, Apple, Pineapple Street and more, and has designed sound for indie games including PigSquad's Pond Water. In parallel with his scoring work, Eric performs and releases music under the moniker Kennebec, a genre-defying cinematic chamber-folk ensemble serving as a creative laboratory for Eric's most uninhibited ideas. Through Kennebec, he has collaborated with modern indie, jazz, pop, and classical luminaries including Samuel T. Herring (Future Islands), Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Sudan Archives, Yazz Ahmed, Alfa Mist, and Joe Armon-Jones. He has also shared stages with Arooj Aftab, Kevin Morby, Joep Beving, and Minus the Bear, and performed at festivals such as PDX Jazz and South by Southwest. Drawing from both classical training as well as his time producing and performing with his own experimental groups, Eric moves fluidly between crafting thematic scores for large orchestral ensembles, designing sonic worlds from field recordings and electroacoustic textures, and self-producing novel performances from his ever-growing collection of instruments from around the world, from 1920s-era guitars to waldzither, pump organ, charango, autoharp, banjo, Rhodes, ngoni, gusli, dobro, and tape machines. Outside the studio, he likes to spend his time hiking, collecting field recordings and testing new ways to make his partner Emily laugh. Recent favorites have included Pluribus, Clair Obscur, Lincoln in the Bardo and Paris, Texas.

Available to hire

Eric Phillips is a composer, sound designer, producer and multi-instrumentalist originally from Boston, Massachusetts. He began the composing portion of his career working under veteran composer Mark Orton, best known for his long-standing collaboration with legendary auteur filmmaker Alexander Payne (Nebraska, Oscar-winning The Holdovers). Since then, Eric has done sound design & composed music for numerous feature films, documentaries, shorts and video games. Recent credits include Higher Ground and Concordia Studios’ Netflix docuseries Working, What We Do All Day starring Barack Obama, Crooked Media’s Dreamtown (Tribeca 2023), Jan Haaken’s award-winning documentaries (Including Our Bodies Our Doctors), and the feature film 12 Mighty Orphans. He also assisted on Payne’s Oscar-winning The Holdovers. Eric has also written music for major podcasts that have won Emmys, and Ambies for folks including Bad Robot, Crooked Media, Spotify, New York Times, Pushkin, Apple, Pineapple Street and more, and has designed sound for indie games including PigSquad’s Pond Water. In parallel with his scoring work, Eric performs and releases music under the moniker Kennebec, a genre-defying cinematic chamber-folk ensemble serving as a creative laboratory for Eric’s most uninhibited ideas. Through Kennebec, he has collaborated with modern indie, jazz, pop, and classical luminaries including Samuel T. Herring (Future Islands), Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Sudan Archives, Yazz Ahmed, Alfa Mist, and Joe Armon-Jones. He has also shared stages with Arooj Aftab, Kevin Morby, Joep Beving, and Minus the Bear, and performed at festivals such as PDX Jazz and South by Southwest.
Drawing from both classical training as well as his time producing and performing with his own experimental groups, Eric moves fluidly between crafting thematic scores for large orchestral ensembles, designing sonic worlds from field recordings and electroacoustic textures, and self-producing novel performances from his ever-growing collection of instruments from around the world, from 1920s-era guitars to waldzither, pump organ, charango, autoharp, banjo, Rhodes, ngoni, gusli, dobro, and tape machines.
Outside the studio, he likes to spend his time hiking, collecting field recordings and testing new ways to make his partner Emily laugh. Recent favorites have included Pluribus, Clair Obscur, Lincoln in the Bardo and Paris, Texas.

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Language

English
Fluent

Work Experience

Composer & Assistant at Mark Orton Music
January 1, 2017 - Present
Responsible for composing, arranging, and producing music for various projects, collaborating with artists and other professionals to create high-quality soundtracks. Involved in all stages of music production from conception to final mix, ensuring that the artistic vision is realized.
Guest Lecturer at Yale University
January 1, 2024 - Present
Conducted workshops and lectures on documentary film scoring, engaging students in hands-on experiences to understand the nuances of music in visual storytelling.
Composer Assistant at Focus Features (The Holdovers)
January 1, 2023 - Present
Assistant to composer Mark Orton on the feature film; contributed to orchestration, cues, and score planning under supervision.
Composer at Higher Ground / Netflix (Working)
January 1, 2023 - Present
Composer under Mark Orton on the Netflix limited series Working; collaborated on scoring themes and episodes.
Composer at Our Bodies Our Doctors
January 1, 2019 - Present
Composer for documentary by Jan Haaken; created original music and underscoring.
Composer at Chehalis / COTSP / Klamath
January 1, 2020 - January 1, 2024
Composer on multiple documentary projects (Chehalis, COTSP, Klamath) directed by Shane Anderson.
Composer at Look Away Look Away
January 1, 2020 - January 1, 2020
Composer for Patrick O'Connor project Look Away Look Away.
Composer at Aria Breath
January 1, 2022 - January 1, 2022
Composer for breath-training app by Tom Granger.
Composer at The Fighty Pucks
January 1, 2022 - January 1, 2022
Composer for The Fighty Pucks project (novel).
Composer + Sound Designer at Pond Water (Eric Cloutier / PigSquad)
January 1, 2020 - January 1, 2022
Indie game Pond Water; created score and sound design.
Composer at Reindeer Game
January 1, 2020 - January 1, 2022
Composer for game Reindeer Game; score and sound design.
Composer at Oscillarium
January 1, 2022 - January 1, 2022
Composer for Oscillarium by Will Petillo.
Composer Assistant at Focus Features / The Holdovers (Alexander Payne)
January 1, 2023 - December 31, 2023
Assisted Mark Orton on the feature The Holdovers; contributed to scoring on a project with multiple Oscar nominations and one win.
Composer at Higher Ground / Netflix
January 1, 2023 - December 31, 2023
Composer for the Limited Series Working, collaboration under Mark Orton; Emmy Award recognition.
Composer at Look Away Look Away (dir. Patrick O'Connor)
January 1, 2020 - December 31, 2020
Original score for the short Look Away Look Away.
Composer at Our Bodies Our Doctors (dir. Jan Haaken)
January 1, 2019 - December 31, 2019
Original score for the documentary Our Bodies Our Doctors.
Composer at Chehalis / COTSP / Klamath (dir. Shane Anderson)
January 1, 2020 - December 31, 2024
Score composer for multiple projects including Chehalis, COTSP, and Klamath.
Composer at Oscillarium (Will Petillo)
January 1, 2022 - December 31, 2022
Composer for the project Oscillarium.

Education

Bachelor of Music, Theory and Composition at New York University
January 11, 2030 - January 1, 2014
Five-Week Summer Intensive, Jazz Guitar at Berklee College of Music
January 1, 2010 - January 1, 2010
Composer Apprenticeship at Mark Orton
January 11, 2030 - May 10, 2026

Qualifications

Add your qualifications or awards here.

Industry Experience

Education, Media & Entertainment, Gaming, Professional Services, Software & Internet