Most artists eventually face the fork in the road: choose music or choose film. Will Retherford spent years assuming he’d have to pick one, until the obvious finally clicked. He didn’t.
That realization became Saynt Ego, the indie electronic project where Retherford’s work as a producer, filmmaker, and songwriter exists as one continuous creative thread instead of competing identities. It’s not about balancing two careers. It’s about building one artistic vision that needs both mediums to fully exist.
“I knew I wanted to be a filmmaker as a kid, but music became my first true language for creating,” Retherford says. “The turning point came when I realized I didn’t have to choose. Film and music were always speaking to each other. I just needed to let them exist as one artistic path instead of two separate lives.”
You can hear that integrated approach most clearly on “Voices,” the lead single from Saynt Ego’s upcoming album Liminal Space. Released December 16th, the track feels less like a standalone song and more like a film scene you can stream. Written by Will Retherford, Lexi Onyango, and Logan Bruhn, it’s a 3:40 meditation on mental health and internal dialogue, built around restrained beats, atmospheric synths, and doubled male-female vocals repeating “voices in my head” like a mantra you can’t shake.
The production, handled by Bruhn, gives the song room to breathe. There’s no excess here, just space for the feeling to land. The official visualizer, created and directed by Logan Miller, reinforces that stillness: Will Retherford stands alone in a parking lot, smoking a cigarette, checking his phone, staring into the middle distance. It’s simple and relatable, the kind of scene anyone who’s ever gotten stuck inside their own thoughts will recognize immediately.
That cinematic quality isn’t accidental. Retherford co-founded Citizens of Sound, a podcast production agency where he serves as lead producer. The company has racked up 30 million downloads and earned features in The New York Times, Entertainment Tonight, and Apple Editorial. He’s spent over a decade producing audio for celebrities, influencers, and business owners. But while that work pays the bills and sharpens his technical skills, Saynt Ego is where the creative synthesis happens.
Right now, Retherford’s releasing singles from Liminal Space through spring, with the full album dropping in May. At the same time, he’s completing his first short film, “Penny: A Portrait in Motion,” scored entirely with original music. The two projects aren’t separate. They’re parts of the same conversation, the same emotional arc about grief, transition, and what it means to move through liminal spaces without knowing what’s on the other side.
Earlier catalog tracks like “Memory Bank,” “Psychological Thriller,” and “Breathing Underwater” show the same tendency: indie electronics that feel like they belong in a score, introspective lyrics that could anchor a screenplay. Retherford’s influences make sense when you know the source: theology, cinema, and the church. He cites Thomas Aquinas, Richard Rohr, Desmond Tutu, and films like Interstellar and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind as formative references.
His creative process reflects that collaborative film mindset. He works closely with producer Logan Bruhn in the studio, bringing in concepts and references but letting the song reveal itself in the room. Visuals come from Logan Miller, who designs the lighting and cinematic elements for Saynt Ego’s live shows. It’s a team approach, more like a film crew than a solo music project.
That’s why the launch of Horizon House Films doesn’t feel like a pivot. It’s the next logical step. Will Retherford isn’t abandoning music to chase film or vice versa. He’s expanding the infrastructure to support the kind of immersive, long-form storytelling that’s always been the point. The goal isn’t just singles or standalone shorts. It’s building narratives that can grow across songs, visuals, and films, evolving naturally over time.
“I’m interested in building immersive, long-form work that can exist across mediums,” Retherford explains. “Songs, visuals, and narratives that grow with time.”
What started as a kid wanting to make films, then finding music, has circled back to the same place: one creative path where neither medium has to win.
Follow Saynt Ego on Instagram, Will Retherford, or find the project on YouTube and TikTok. More on Retherford’s production work at IMDB and his podcast production at Citizens of Sound.
