STACK April 2017 Issue 150

76 / 97

10 APRIL 2017
SIR WAS
continued
visit MUSIC NEWS
Scrolling through Joel Wästberg’s
instagram posts is at first a little
confusing. What is the meaning or
irony behind using a portrait of Henry
the Eighth to announce the addition of
the sir Was single In The Midst to an
American tastemaker’s playlist?
It turns out it’s not ironic –
Wästberg’s fascination with the world
extends past his eclectic musical
interests (John Coltrane, Charlie
Parker, D’Angelo and J Dilla are a few
he mentions during our Skype call)
and into every crevice of artistry. He’s
what you might call ‘enamoured' with
the world. “The fat guy! The big guy!
Yeah, that picture is beautiful!” he
enthuses in his heavy Swedish accent,
and adds with a laugh, “I just wanted
COMPETITIONS
AMY SHARK
Amy Shark was one of 2016's mega break-out success
stories: her single Adore was released at the tail end of
July and quickly started racking up plays, hitting #3 on the
ARIA chart, #1 on the Australian iTunes and Shazam charts,
#5 on the Aussie Spotify chart and then reaching the #2
position in this year's triple j Hottest 100.
It's currently certified Platinum, with over
10 million Spotify streams. Not shabby.
Last month she released second single
Weekends, and this month she will be
gifting her first EP, entitled Night Thinker,
into our hot little hands. Look out for
our interview with the Gold Coast talent
online towards the end of the month, and
be sure to pick up Night Thinker at JB on
April 21. ZKR
Night
Thinker EP by
Amy Shark is
out April 21 via
Sony.
Digging A Tunnel
by sir Was is out now
via Inertia.
Read the full interview online at
A WARNER CD PACK
Unsure which new Warner release to buy in April? Win
them all! Thanks to Warner, we have a CD pack to give
away which includes Little Dragon's Season High, Falling
In Reverse's Coming Home, Yellow Claw's Los Amsterdam,
Michael Nesmith's Infinite Tuesday: An Autobiographical
Riff , the film soundtrack to The Fate Of The Furious, and
Sheryl Crow's Be Myself . 5 X STEEL PANTHER
PRIZE PACKS
Steel Panther's latest, Lower The Bar, is a
throbbing 11-track run through relationship
turmoil, alcohol abuse and steamrolling over
anyone threatening to kill the party. Head to
to score one of five prize packs
thanks to Kobalt, each including a stubbie holder
and one copy each of Lower the Bar, Live From
Lexxi’s Mom’s Garage andAll You Can Eat on CD.
10 X SIGNED
COPIES OF
NORTHLANE'S
MESMER
Northlane have just
released the remarkable
Mesmer and we have 10
copies signed by Australia’s
finest hardcore lads up for
grabs, thanks to UNFD.
5 X COPIES OF
ALI BARTER'S
A SUITABLE
GIRL
Thanks to Inertia, we've got
five copies of Melbourne
singer-songwriter Ali
Barter's awesome debut
album to give away. A
Suitable Girl is out now at
JB Hi-Fi.
him for his looks, not for his abilities.
But the paintings are just beautiful.
And there’s so many of them! That
nobody sees...”
Amongst all the mysterious self-
recorded samples (listen for the birds
on Falcon; Wästberg says they’re from
a Parisian “zoo shop” [pet store])
and the fluid but surprising way he
chooses his instrumentation, Wästberg
says it is difficult to know when a
song is done. “That’s the question,
right? That’s the big question for art
making! When is the belly of Heinrich
the Sixth… Seventh… Eighth? When
is his belly perfect? When is his beard
perfect, full enough? The only thing
I can do is try to listen to my gut
feeling. When I’m focused, I know.
This is it, that’s the way it should be,”
he says with a click of his fingers.
“Then someone else likes it, and
suddenly you are calling me from
Australia. Fantastic! We can talk with
some philosophers and psychologists
for five years, but we still wouldn’t
know the formula.” ZKR
Enter at