DUSTIN TEBBUTT

Hi Dustin and thanks for taking the time out to speak with us at Musicology. Congratulations on the release of Chasing Gold. What were some of the challenges in putting this EP together and conversely what were some of the greatest surprises you experienced through the writing / recording process for Chasing Gold?

This EP came really naturally and felt different to the last record. I think I was really struggling to find the songs last time around, and also felt a lot of time pressure, and industry to put something 'incredible' out. I learnt a lot from that, and realised most of it was in my own head. So with that perspective this time around I gave myself a lot freedom and could just make the music I wanted to make. The challenges this time were from creative things I'd chosen, I wanted a batch of songs that would work as stripped back, acoustic tunes, as opposed to relying on lots of production and layers to tell the stories. I also wanted to find a bit of a limited palette to work with sonically. That was harder to stick to, but it gave me some guidelines and I think the record is a lot stronger because of that.

In terms of the writing and lyrical content, was there an overarching narrative tying the album together or an assortment of topics and inspirations that zig zag throughout the record?

There's definitely a general theme of romantic relationships, and in a sense, it's a breakup record, but it's not about one person or time or place or anything like that. I see the songs as a collection of individual tracks that look at different parts of the way we love. Even Satellite and Satellite (ii) were written independently of each other, but now they kinda add extra meaning to each other’s stories, like they are two sides of the same coin or something. That wasn't intentional, but the thread was there enough for it to work.

The track All Your Love was originally co-written and released with Flight Facilities, an outfit somewhat on the polar end of the musical spectrum that you as Dustin Tebbutt occupy. Was this unusual collaboration what made it so appealing in the first place?

The Flight Facilities guys being a world away definitely provided a cool opportunity to try some new things, but also within that, tracks like 'Claire De Lune' and 'Two Bodies' exist in these very immersive sonic worlds, and I think from the outset, I was interested in exploring that end of their repertoire, so although the soundscapes and song writing structures and stuff are totally different, the way in which some of their tracks create and convey meaning was very familiar to me. I think that’s why we were able to work together well, as we were heading in the same direction, but maybe coming from different sides of the path.

In what ways did you want to push the sonic boundaries of Chasing Gold compared to that of your earlier works such as The Breach, Home and First Light?

For me the broader process of creating music over the course of these last releases hasn't been one of re-invention, perhaps some artists feel the need to do that - Bjork for example, or even Taylor Swift, where a new approach, sense of self, become the “thing” that defines one chapter from the next. I've been more interested for now, with refining and refining. I felt for a while like this wasn't as valid a creative trajectory, but there are so many things to learn and change subtly as you go, and I find that kind of development really rewarding. I recently went to see a retrospective of John Olsen's works, spanning over 50 years or so, it was interesting because it was hard to tell which of the paintings were the new ones, and which were old. To hear him talk and write about his approach of refinement was really inspiring and for now I feel really content working in my acoustic folk kinda way. I think on this release I was a lot stricter with which sounds I'd let in to the tracks, and I really tried to limit the palette to a smaller selection of things that worked consistently across the record. I'm not sure how well I did with that, but I tried!

With such richly layered tracks and a masterful finesse in you compositional structures, by prising these layers apart can you elaborate on the technical nature of your production and piecemeal construction through the instruments and recording equipment you used on Chasing Gold?

For this record I was set on having finished songs before starting to work them up in the studio. I have quite a small setup with everything in one room (most of the mics are a patched in and ready to go) so that once I start recording I don't really have to stop to setup or change things around, and I can focus on playing and throwing musical ideas around layer by layer to see what works. I use a modular 500 series rack with a small selection of pres and mics, and can quickly switch between them for different colours of sound. There's an upright piano in the room, a drum kit, some synths and about 10 guitars, all these instruments I've collected over the years to have some personality or unique thing about their sound. So I begin, usually with a rough guide of the guitar and vocal, together – this becomes the backbone of the track, and I just layer up sounds on top of that, in no particular order until something gets exciting. A lot of stuff gets tried out and thrown away, sometimes this takes only a half day before the track is almost fully formed, other times it can take coming back to a session many times over months to find a good combination of layers. Later on I'll then re-record that original guide separately in different parts, quite often double tracking the vocals and acoustics cause I like what that does to the sound.

In terms of new musical explorations, your track Atlas In Your Eye featured on the 2017 film Jasper Jones. Was there a different approach that you took in working on this track?

This one was really quite unusual and rewarding because the story, characters, images and emotions were all there laid out in the movie before I had to write a single note. I sat and watched the film through, and then on the way home came up with most of the melody and chorus in the car. There was so much to go off instead of pulling some memory or moment up from within and trying to extrapolate that into a world. Lyrically too, Craig Sylvey (who was the author of the book the film was based on) gave me a bunch of little sparks after a phone convo about the characters in the film and growing up in rural Australia. Later, he also sent me a poem he had written before finishing the book that had all these lovely images in it that kind of condensed the emotions of the story into a handful of lines. I was able to then work these concepts through the lyrics. So it was a totally different experience for me, where the whole thing was based on external input. I think in part that inspired me to do a lot more co-writing (which I did for this EP) as it was so rewarding and enjoyable to have that other energy, perspective and creativity in the mix.

Having meet and performed with so any different musicians and artists over the years, during that time, has there been any defining moments or words of wisdom that were spoken to you which really resonated with you and in turn altered the way you approach your craft?

I think you learn something from everyone, but some insights stick with you more than others I guess. I think the most valuable lessons I've learned have actually come from my label and management team. There have been so many times over the years when I've been stuck in the micro perspective of an artist, and they have gently pulled me out a few orbits and back to a larger perspective of what really matters. It seems weird, but I've slowly taken that on and now I don't get quite so caught up thinking this is an all or nothing thing, or that it has to be a struggle to be worth doing. Creatively I mentioned John Olsen before, and that was a big one… and then there have been so many artists that have lead by example and taught me to try to be open and sharing and supportive of one another. The first few bigger tours I did with Boy and Bear and Missy Higgins were both like that. They were so supportive of me, without reason to be when I was out there warming up the stages, and seeing that removed a lot of the ego for me. It wasn't rock and roll, there was no bravado and I think that was way cooler.