After more than two decades scoring for film and television, Halifax-based guitarist, composer and producer Asif Illyas is returning to his roots with the release of his new solo acoustic album, Autonomy, out on November 7, 2025.
That’s the goal for me — to use what I’ve learned from scoring films to create a kind of bespoke soundtrack for the little ‘scenes’ in people’s real lives. – Asif Illyas
“After twenty years of scoring for films and television — where AI is creeping in, offering quicker and cheaper solutions — I’m pivoting back to my classical guitar and songwriting roots,” he says. “Autonomy is all live performance: one-take, acoustic fingerstyle guitar with no edits. Just raw human touch.”
Rediscovering the beauty in imperfection
For Illyas — who has worked with artists including Natalie Cole, Lionel Richie and David Foster, and whose scores have been featured at international film festivals such as TIFF, Cannes and Berlin — the album is both a creative project and a personal statement.
After years of relying on digital tools designed to make composition faster and cleaner, he began to miss the imperfections that make performance feel alive.
“One of the things that all this new technology does is make things sound too perfect — and as human beings, when we play an instrument, it’s never perfect,” he says. “I wanted to go back to that sound you hear in early recordings, where there’s a sense of being on the edge, a natural flow of tempo, and the feeling of excitement or relaxation coming through the music.”
Recording live without edits meant embracing every slip and nuance — and it demanded focus. “It made me practice far more than I might have if I’d known I could ‘fix it in the mix’,” he says. “The result, hopefully, feels like sitting next to me as I play the pieces on the guitar.”
The magic of Galadriel
At the heart of Autonomy is Galadriel, Illyas’s custom-built acoustic guitar, crafted by Montreal luthier Michael Greenfield from the wood of a rare mahogany tree found in Belize.
“I almost fell out of my chair the first time I played it,” he says. “Once I sit and play that guitar, it’s so hard to put down — it almost casts a spell. It’s like a member of my band, encouraging me through the challenges of percussive fingerstyle playing. Without Galadriel, I might not have made this album.”
From film scores to “4D Fingerstyle”
That percussive approach forms part of what Illyas calls his “4D Fingerstyle” technique, a way of playing that combines rhythm, melody, harmony and percussion simultaneously.
The technique was developed from necessity. When Illyas’s daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, he stepped back from touring to spend more time at home, focusing on film composition. But the urge to perform live never left him.
Experimenting with ways to make a solo guitar sound like a full band, he began using looping pedals before moving beyond them. “After a while, I started to get frustrated with the limitations of a loop,” he says. “Then I saw this kid, Kent Nishimura from Japan, doing percussive fingerstyle, and I thought — wow, that’s incredible.”
Drawing inspiration from flamenco, where the guitar is often used as a percussion instrument, Illyas’s distinctive sound first began to take shape while studying classical guitar at Dalhousie University. “I played a lot of Spanish pieces that had flamenco stylings,” he says. “That’s really where the journey started, leading to the sound you hear on the album.”
A deeply personal project
For all its technical ambition, Autonomy remains rooted in family. One of its most personal tracks, Strong Enough, features his children — his daughter on vocals and his son on hi-hat — both of whom live with Type 1 diabetes, while his son also has epilepsy.
“I wrote that tune as a hopeful chant for all of us,” says Illyas. “It makes me feel strong, hopeful and confident, but it also has a serious, contemplative undertone. It’s something I hope they’ll listen to one day when I’m gone, and know that I was right there with them — in their hearts and minds — through the good days and the bad.”
Finding freedom again
For Illyas, Autonomy represents both a creative rebirth and a return to artistic independence. After decades spent bringing other people’s visions to life, he’s once again making music that’s entirely his own.
“When you score for film, you’re part of a team that supports the director and the screenwriter’s narrative,” he says. “When you create your own music, without that roadmap, there’s a freedom that’s rewarding in a different way. It takes me back to the feeling of being in a band — creating something unique, from the writing stage right through to the real stage.”
Ultimately, Illyas hopes listeners will find their own space within the music. “I wanted to make tunes you could put on in the background while doing something you love,” he says. “That’s the goal for me — to use what I’ve learned from scoring films to create a kind of bespoke soundtrack for the little ‘scenes’ in people’s real lives.”
To celebrate the release of Autonomy, Illyas will perform two launch shows at The Dome Planetarium at the Discovery Centre on release day, followed by a vinyl release party at The Carleton on December 4, 2025. Visit asifillyas.com for tickets and information.