Composer | Filmmaker | Artist
A B O U T
Reed Clark Means (b. 1988) is a composer and filmmaker from the USA. His passion and love for classical and early music has led him to the world of creating sounds for fantasy environments.
Composing for videogames, film, animation and more, Reed lives to tell the story through music.
- B I O -
Reed was born in Thousand Oaks, California. His interest in the arts started at the early age of four, when he became an actor. He has acting credits in both film and television (Screen Actors Guild), yet his interest was always behind the scenes. In the late 1990s, he and his family moved to Little Rock, Arkansas.
As he got older, he began to actively pursue music. Starting with the bugle in the Boy Scouts, and quickly switching to trumpet, he began to explore brass and percussion instruments. It wasn't long until he picked up a Bass Guitar, and fell in love with stringed instruments.
One after one, the instruments piled on, and his interests grew with his collection. His collection grew to include both concert and indigenous instruments.
In his late teens and early twenties, he performed and recorded with multiple people, but most notably, in the prog/jazz fusion band, Hot Cognition. The band released one studio album, "Merchants and Liars" in 2008.
After the band dissolved, Reed turned his attention to composition and filmmaking. He began work on a series of pieces for a 21 member orchestra, as well as several short experimental films. During this time, he also performed as a solo soundscape project, called OLIVE.
In 2014, Reed was asked by composer Ryan Gaston to create a film to be part of a surround sound art installation called "A Dream Retrieval Ritual." Reed recruited the help of longtime friend and actor Colin Galloway to be a part of it. The art installation was a success, and the film went on to win awards at festivals around the world.
Also in 2014, he composed a series of mysterious works and short film scores under the name Öliv Stjörnumann.
Between 2014-2016, he created a series of pictographic music scores to be displayed and performed.
In 2017, Reed joined the SBR Postcard Project, and created a multimedia performance of Sarah Belle Reid's pictographic score, "Flicker."
In early 2020, he moved to the St. Louis area and is actively composing for videogames and film. He also is creating medieval synth music under the name Claíomh Geimhridh.
Artist Statement
I live to tell stories.
I have never been one for simplicity in my creations. Everything has a concept behind it, and everything has a story it will carry into the future. This is my goal with art: To tell the greatest stories ever told.
With videogames, the music carries the player as they travel though the virtual realms. The music sets the mood, establishes themes, and becomes an emotional part of the experience. It is the tool to immerse the player, and the tool to carry the story forward.
With film, I can bring the viewer into my own world, and tell them all of the stories that world has.
With pictographic notation, I can tell a visual story, while the interpretation of the performer can tell their own.
My life has been filled with unreal experiences, and given me plenty of stories to tell. I am always seeking to expand my imagination and storytelling abilities, and I feel it is my duty to my fellow persons of earth, to travel into the unknown and bring something back.