Describe your sound in 5 words or less?
Patterns of strangeness and light.
If your music was an artwork what would it look like?
Elements of: a horse, a bird, a horizon, a breaking wave
Who’s your favourite artist/artwork?
Gaugan for his colours, Vermeer for his freakish realism.
What’s your favourite gig you have played to date?
Supporting PJ Harvey a few years back there were some great moments.
What inspires/influences your music the most?
The mystery of life and death really – I’m always trying to get to the other side of it.
What song do you wish you wrote?
I wish I wrote Adelphi Apartments by Tiny Ruins – one of the all-time great songs and no-one knows it yet.
What part of making music excites you the most?
The act of creation – in the studio working on a new piece, or live when things take off in a new direction. I don’t like safely replaying the same music over and over which is why I work in the studio a lot and make a lot of different kinds of music. I like being way out on a limb with a blank page and an ink pen in my hand when the recording light goes on.
What can a punter expect from your live show?
This show has a lot of driving acoustic guitars, spooked out melodies and I guess some fairly explorative lyrical material. It’s a darker narrative on this new record and the show is going to be pretty intense but also musically innovative in that we use a lot of samples and effects as well.
Tell us about the last song you wrote?
I finished this new record which took an age to make, and then started reacting against it by writing and recording a bunch of stripped back raw songs – every song had to be written and recorded within 4 or 5 hours. So far so good….
What is the most exciting thing happening now in the Melbourne Music scene?
I think the same things excite me about the Melbourne scene as they always have – the musicians are committed and supportive of each other, the venues support the musicians, and most importantly the punters give a shit about art. They’re the ones who push us along.
Machine Translations will be performing this week at Friday Night’s at Monet’s Garden. To book tickets click here.