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HOLLY THROSBY
On
Being Born
and
Aeroplane
in particular, the
saxophone is so subtle that it’s barely there,
but if it wasn’t there there’d be a completely
different feel – like the sliver of violin that
happens half-way through
Evening Stroll
.
Do you imagine these little things as you’re
recording or much earlier in the process?
Marcus Whale (Collarbones, BV) played
saxophone on this record, and Jens Birchall played
cello. Both their parts were improvised. Neither
of them knew the songs very well when they
came into the studio, so we just discussed what
I wanted and they played their interpretation of
that. I love the character of both instruments and
I had imagined them exisiting on the record, but
I had no idea what the actual parts would be until
they were being played.
How do you know when a song is done, when
there are so many little accents like these you
could add?
You just know. I am not sure how, but it's just
a feeling of it being finished and knowing it's
all in order, and that nothing else needs to be
added or removed. Every song needs to be
treated differently, and you can't push them
in one way or another if they don't want to
go. A song like
Being Born
welcomed a kind of
chaos in the arrangement and performance,
but a song like
Aeroplane
needed to be more
restrained and to unfold in stages as it went along.
Your first novel
Goodwood
received some
magnificent reviews, with comparisons toTim
Winton.You’re also an illustrator and have made
a kids’ album too. Do your ideas for each of these
mediums spill over into one another?
03
NEWS
MUSIC
The ideas don't necessarily spill over in the
process of making things in different mediums
in a conscious sense. I am very aware of the
difference between writing fiction and writing
a song. But I do work a lot with imagery and
become quite immersed in whatever imagery or
landscape feel appropriate to a story. In that way,
some songs on
After A Time
reflect some of the
imagery in
Goodwood
, because of the time frame
in which I made them both.
I read that when writing the book you had
a goal of 4000 words per week. Do you set
objectives or parameters for yourself like this
when writing music?
Nah, I'm a lot less disciplined when it comes
to songwriting. For me it doesn't lend itself to
that kind of focus. It's more when it comes to
recording and mixing that the intensity
sets in and it really takes over my life.
There’s a lot of gentle movement in
these tracks (reflected in their titles
too); they have more momentum to
me than some punk music! Do you
find a kind of psychological, forward-
rolling inertia when you are writing?
Or is the writing process more jerky
than the final songs’ flows lead us
to believe?
Yeah I do actually – that's the best
kind of feeling. It's always about
rhythm and movement. You always have to
go back over things and fix them and work
on stuff until it's finished. But, in general, if
I don't feel that forward motion when I'm
writing then the spark isn't really there. The
work has to come out naturally, in a really
unforced way, for me to like it and want to
keep it.
Singer-songwriter (and poet, illustrator, and novelist) Holly
Throsby's immersive new album,
After ATime
, is quietly
electrifying; we put some questions to the musician ahead
of its release.
Kehlani
After
A Time
by Holly
Throsby is
out Feburary
17 via
Spunk.
TOURING
09/03 - 31/03
W
elcome to February! It's a veritable jewellery
box of shiny things, let me tell you. We have
interviews with Sampha, Holly Throsby, Kasey
Chambers, Japandroids and more; reviews of newies
by King Gizzard &The Lizard Wizard, Ryan Adams, Dune
Rats, Holy Holy, Busby Marou, Dirty Projectors, Los
Campesinos!, Kehlani and many others; and a big ol'
interview with Tuka of Thundamentals. The only thing
we don't have is one of those teeny ballerinas spinning
on top, but you can embody her yourself! Just be
careful of the coffee table.
Zo
ë
Radas (Music Editor)