Where are you currently based?
In Naarm (Melbourne).
A contradiction of sorts. There’s been such stillness thanks to residing in the most locked down city in the world through a global pandemic, yet I’ve simultaneously experienced so much internal movement change. It’s been a once in a lifetime opportunity to stop, breathe and direct all my energy and focus inwards. There has been nothing else to do, and nowhere else to be. All distractions and excuses and reasons to delay melted away and I went pretty internal writing lots of songs and poetry. This enforced stillness and quiet is where the songs from my upcoming EP were born.
In terms of the sound, I worked with Melbourne producer SB90 on this track, so it’s definitely influenced by his effortless groove, but it’s also shaped by the buoyancy and playfulness of disco. There’s a positivity and uplift around that genre that’s been modernised and peaks through this track that makes me want to close my eyes and dance. I think the time that we’ve been living in has inadvertently influenced the track too. I craved the euphoria and freedom of a dancefloor more than ever these past few years of lockdown life, so there’s an essence of liberation you can hear throughout this song – which is timed perfectly since it’s released as the world begins to open up again!
It was during a conversation with a friend of mine years back where she asked “why do we use the word ‘fall’ when we talk about love? It seems kind of weird don’t you think?” I thought it was such a brilliant observation and one that really stayed with me for a long time since then. We’ve been fed this cultural narrative by modern romanticism that love is something that happens to us, that it’s a phenomenon we have no control over (particularly women) that we fall into it, in the way we fall down a step we didn’t see. The whole concept just feels really icky to me – especially since I live my life as consciously as I possibly can – so shouldn’t love be just as conscious? I used this idea to write a poem that I later developed into lyrics for this anti-love song along, humming to a simple guitar riff recorded on my phone at my kitchen table.
This single means a lot to me because it’s the first to be set free into the ether. It’s an accumulation of my entire life’s experience in the realm of love and the decades of un-doing and re-learning (thanks Disney!) that have left me standing exactly where I am now. There’s this overwhelming sense I have that the winding path I’ve meandered down has been the right one because it’s equated to me being the person and the artist I am now birthing these songs.
I believe it’s not just music…it’s storytelling…it’s art. It’s an opportunity to refract life and love back at the world in a way that highlights the interconnectivity and majesty of existence. In reflecting my own experience, I am holding a mirror for others to recognise themselves. It all comes back to connection really. In both the reflecting inwards and the reflecting outwards – we need art to see ourselves.
How did you approach the recording process?
Whenever COVID lockdown restrictions in Melbourne eased I made a mad dash to the studio! I think there’s something magical and mysterious that happens when you’re in the same physical space as other people and numerous creative energies collide to make something that didn’t exist before. So whilst there were flashes of that, majority of this song was approached back and forth over emails to continue collaborating and honing the sound when the world felt like it stopped spinning.
This track was recorded and produced in the height of Melbourne lockdowns (when we thought COVID was a strange thing that would blow over soon…lol) almost two years ago now! I recorded the vocals in Melbourne with an old friend of mine Jeremy from Spectrum Sound – who used to record my songs back when we were teenagers, so it was a nice full circle moment to be back in the studio with him after so many years. Any break in restrictions meant I’d be able to duck back into the studio for additional vocals. Then any other instrumentation was recorded remotely or cooked up by the incredible SB90 who I worked really closely with throughout the entire process.
I’ve been smashing Harvey Sutherland’s back catalogue, Genesis Owusu’s ‘Smiling With No Teeth’, Jessie Ware, anything Darius produces, BAYNK, Wayne Snow, GL’s album ‘You Read My Mind’, Moon Boots’ more disco leaning tracks and anything by the kween that is Amber Mark.
Dance with my eyes closed, write poetry, have picnics, explore new towns, learn new things, meditate, cook vegan feasts, wander through galleries, meet new people, sniff out good coffee and hang with family.
Lots of gigs! Getting back into the swing of playing with my band and relishing in that unspeakable feeling of making music with other people in the same place. I’m heading into the new year with a few exciting collaborations up my sleeve before dropping my second single in February ahead of my EP release in April! So yeah…quite a lot!
Seafood and the sauna. Not simultaneously.
