Chris Letcher is a singer-songwriter and film composer from Durban, South Africa. He is based in Johannesburg and East London, UK, and works across indie, indie pop and chamber pop.

Career

Letcher begins as a member of Urban Creep, one of South Africa’s major bands in the late 1990s, before moving into a solo career. He also belongs to Bow Arts Co-op. Alongside his own recordings, he studies towards completion of a doctorate in music composition at the Royal College of Music in London.

Albums and recording work

His album Frieze appears in 2007 and is later included in lists of the best albums of the decade by the Sunday Times and the Mail & Guardian. His album Spectroscope appears in 2011.

Film and screen music

Letcher composes for film and television. His credits include a score for Ntshavheni wa Luruli’s Elelwani, a collaborative score with Spoek Mathambo for Black South-Easter, and music for the BBC feature film Challenger, which stars William Hurt. He also completes the score for a BBC adaptation of D. H. Lawrence’s Women in Love.

Other film work includes My Black Little Heart, which is named among the top films of 2009 by the South African Sunday Independent, and Place of Bone, the follow-up film by director Claire Angelique, for which he is also scoring music.

Collaborations

Letcher works with Dave Matthews, Xavier Rudd and Vusi Mahlasela on a track for Mahlasela’s album.