A mid-life crisis can come in many forms. Some people sign up for marathons, others get into restoring vintage cars… and some people get really, really into Hot Chip. Netflix’s second season of BEEF shows depicts the third option, with actor Oscar Isaac embodying an amateur 40-something synth enthusiast with more money than sense.

In a new interview with the BEEF Official Podcast, Finneas O’Connell explains how the show settled on the Moog as the ultimate symbol of “Millennial cringe”. When the show composer stumbled upon a vintage $25,000 Minimoog, he was was struck by how pricy it was. Logically, he knew he could “download a plugin” instead… but someone going through an identity crisis might not realise there was a cheaper alternative.

• READ MORE: I’ve finally found a pair of closed-back headphones I don’t want to EQ straight away

In season 2, actor Isaac plays the character of Josh, who manages a posh country club with “questionable spending habits”. His biggest spends come in the form of high-ticket music gear that even experienced musicians might be unwilling to splash out on, a trait that both shows how inexperienced he is, as well as how he’ll pay any price to carve out a new sense of identity.

“He bought it because he’s a big Hot Chip fan,” the musician laughs. “He’s an amateur! He only plays it a little bit… but the Moog is super expensive”

Finneas landed on Moogs while synth shopping with actor Isaac himself. When they found the right one, it felt like the perfect way of symbolising a man “someone in their 40s hanging on to the past”, trying to stay hip and young in his “man cave”.

Isaac was keen to get stuck in, even sending Finneas Moog playlists for inspiration – but the musician was a bit reluctant to teach him everything. “Oscar wanted to learn everything there is to know about Moogs,” Finneas recalls. “And I remember being like, ‘Isn’t his character supposed to be bad at the moment?’ Oscar’s kind of excellent at whatever he takes up… so I thought I shouldn’t help him at all… [his character] should just suck at the Moog.”

Despite his role requiring him to “suck” at the instrument, Finneas was often given a run for his money. Isaac would practice his purposefully ‘crude’ pieces and actually sound pretty decent. “He’d sometimes play it better than me,” Finneas jokes.

Taking over the reins from Bobby Krlic’s more “percussive”, Finneas opted for a more sampled, synth-focused approach. He found inspiration in insect noises, sprinklers and even a TikTok video of a girl harmonising with the hum of her desk fan. “I found synths that I could play and make the sound like swarms of bees,” he explains at one point. “I recorded sprinkler systems at a golf course near my house, and used those as the rhythmic component.”

The series also has plenty of other experimental usage of samples, like the stress-inducing sauna scene that mingles in the sound of dripping water throughout. In a chat with A24, Finneas adds that he is often gathering field recordings, from the buzz of florescent lights to the whirring of a washing machine. “Then I will look for an excuse to incorporate [the recording] in a way that is inherently unique,” he explains

The score also features a needle drops from elsewhere in Finneas’ career – namely Bad Guy, a track he worked on with his sister, Billie Eilish. The track plays when Finneas actually makes a cameo as “a really douchey version” of himself, and Bad Guy serves as an ironic acknowledgement of his career. “The idea that I’m working out to my own work like that, I’m producing all this music, and then I’m in the gym listening to it… I thought was so funny,” he laughs.

The post Finneas on why a Minimoog was the perfect instrument to “encapsulate Millennial cringe” on Netflix’s Beef: “He’s not a musician and he has a $25k synth” appeared first on MusicTech.