Justin Marshall Elias

Justin Marshall Elias is a composer known for his minimalist, alien, and atmospheric piano compositions for film and art. With a disciplined approach to music creation and wide-ranging artistic collaborations, he is best known for his score to the feature "Circle" and short film "Teens Like Phil," and writes premier music for film makers through Music Vine. He also has a growing following with his Instagram project "Music+Art", composing music for numerous up-and-coming visual artists and harnessing the power of social media to promote new art across mediums. From Electronica/IDM to well-constructed soundtracks from composers like Jóhann Jóhannsson, Justin is fascinated by the interplay between sounds and the images they are attached to or conjure up. Strong influences include Electronica artists like Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada, Venetian Snares, and Autechre. He is also drawn to more experimental and ambient artists like Machienfabriek, Alaskan Tapes, Chihei Hatakeyama, Plaid, and Monolake for their atmospherically alien sounds and genre-breaking beats and textures. Born in California, Justin has spent most of his life amidst the quiet beauty of Idaho where he currently lives.

A musicologist from an early age, music for Justin has often served as both creative outlet and as a way to process the challenges of depression, anxiety, and insomnia. He passed many sleepless hours experimenting with new sounds and compositions while studying Sound Design at Montana State University (2005). To stand out amidst the competition of the Los Angeles music scene he would soon be in, Justin challenged himself to refine his creative process, quickly dissecting images and scenes into musical devices. Writing several songs per day, he would have over a thousand songs composed by the time he moved to southern California to pursue his music career. Before openly composing under his own name, his most common aliases were "Defending the Control," "I Think We Should See Other Dimensions," and "Secret Piano," the last of which is credited with his SoundCloud experiment of composing an album for every letter in the alphabet. Having relocated back to Idaho, Justin's primary canvas is the incredible variability of the piano, thanks to the infinite source of sounds via digital audio workstations like Logic Pro. He is inspired by the stark power of minimalism and creates music that is ambient, electronic, and abstract. His music incorporates an experimental edge, playing with the intricate tile-laying of sounds, and he is fascinated by themes and motifs that are teased, revealed, and deconstructed in surprising ways.

Justin values the initiative to create, which is what pleases him most about collaborating with fellow artists. He feels that music should be a conduit to the imagination, seeking his own inspiration from work that is honest, original, and daring. He is happiest when his music is incorporated with other art forms, especially dance, and when it inspires the listener to feel, imagine, and create. One last unique quality he brings to the film making process is what's lovingly nicknamed "the JME experience;" simply put he makes an effort to place people, laughter, and other positive interactions before any apathetic or corporate ideas of professionalism. He makes it clear on his Instagram account that mental health and authentic human connection is always the first thing on his mind, and within that paradigm is a passionate effort to help creators realize their vision.

As an actor, Elias has performed in feature and short films, commercials, webisodes,and has received critical acclaim for his work on stage. Elias was born in Palo Alto, California, and resided in nearby Fremont, California. His father was a manager for Hewlett-Packard in their printer division and his mother was a sign-language interpreter. Justin has since learned to become conversational in ASL. At age eight, he relocated with his parents and older sister Jessica to Eagle, Idaho. An artist from the earliest age he can recall, Elias first made up an imaginary world called "Forever Game" and promised himself he'd never stop playing. He loved films, particularly of the sci-fi genre, and loved to act out and improvise scenes as well as develop characters. This led to making experimental films in middle and high school, in which he also acted.

Elias began exploring his interest in music while in middle school, bouncing around from instrument to instrument but never really settling on one other than the piano. Starting around eighth grade, he became a self-labeled "musicologist" to gain an understanding and appreciation for all types of music. Elias' grandfather encouraged him to play an instrument, believing music was vital to a good life. He joined the marching band in high school playing the alto saxophone.

Toward the end of high school, Elias began working with a digital audio workstation called FL Studio (formerly known as FruityLoops) that featured a graphical user interface based on a pattern-based music sequencer. By the time he was a senior in high school, Elias had technically mastered professional broadcasting and film making software and hardware. He was hired as a technical director by an audio visual and presentation technology services and solutions company, and managed workers more than twice his age.

After graduating high school, Elias began his undergraduate study at Boise State University. His ongoing fascination of movies led him to transfer his sophomore year to Montana State University, ranked in the top five film schools in the nation to pursue film-making. Elias made the competitive film gate his Freshman year, one of 40 students accepted out of 300 applicants. While working on films in college, he continued to find himself pulled towards a single element in film, sound. He consistently received accolades for his sound design and music choices. While at MSU, Elias scored many student films, and garnered several awards and nominations for film composition and sound design. During his senior year Elias scored four short and feature films, including composing the original score for the short film "Water's Handle Music" which won the Medallion Award at the 2009 Washougal International Film Festival. During an awards ceremony, a casting director in attendance approached him and said, "go to LA and be an actor, you can do it!"

After graduating MSU, he briefly returned to Idaho and was cast as "Garry Lejeune" in the play "Noises Off" at the StageCoach Theater for which he won the 2011 Masque Award for Best Actor. During the play's run he was cast for two television commercials. Elias reflected on the previous advice of the casting director as well as that of composer George S. Clinton who both urged Elias to relocate to Los Angeles. Upon arriving in LA in 2010, Elias continued to pursue his dual-track goals of composing and acting and also began working on the production side of the industry for production companies including the Syfy Channel, Jim Henson and the Food Network.

Having become established at creating emotionally engaging film scores, Elias has garnered the attention of producers and directors and become a sought-after composer exhibiting a wide stylistic range and command of electronic composition. Adding to his appeal is Elias' ability to work in creative partnership with a film's director when composing to picture.

[Bio Update as of 11/27/2021]