surprise!
I have a new album 🌱
My OP1 Field synth
A Journey travel electric guitar
2 x tiny, Himalayan singing bowls
An SM58 mic
TOO many pedals (Microcosm, Chroma Console, MOODII, El Capistan; Bigsky; Avalanche Run).
That’s what I took with me on our four month, 20,000km trip through the Aussie outback. In terms of what I usually use to produce an album, it was an incredibly small setup. My husband would disagree. Those of you who know caravans, know that weight is a big thing. Two days beforehand, I was decanting my skincare into non-smaller, lighter containers, to avoid unnecessary weight in the van. And yet somehow I ended up two large bags of gear, bursting at the seams.
Needless to say, I probs stretched the friendship a bit there (sorry, Doobs).
But what I did lack in the ability to stick to weight restrictions, I more than made up with the fact that over the course of our time away, I wrote the soundtrack to our epic adventure. A collection of raw, intimate songs from some of the wildest, most beautiful places in the world. Places that I will cherish forever.
expansion a (south) is on Bandcamp presale today (with 3 songs available now), and will be released in full on 5 November. Be sure to click the info panel to read more about the album, and the individual tracks.
Most of the album was produced off grid. Solar powered. And in the caravan. Every single song was written, recorded and produced inside (and once or twice, outside) the confines of our small van. Sometimes I had the luxury to spread out all my gear and record (as per the photo above, taken when recording karijini (iron. spinifex) but sometimes I didn’t have that luxury. The song nyinggulu / ningaloo (whale shark) was recorded on the bed, late one night while my loves played cards at the table, 30cm away from me. It was a less than ideal studio situation. But it was these conditions that made this album such a delightful challenge for me. My process was to write every time I was struck by awe - regardless of whether it was a “good” time to record. So it’s peppered with mistakes that I would usually edit out. In fact, here, you can even hear the sound of the dining table in the caravan, clinking (somewhere between 0:02 and 0:03)
Usually I’d edit those sounds out. But for this album, they only add nostalgia. Other songs on the album have door clicks. Others have less than perfect vocals that I intended to re-record back home but upon doing so, felt they lacked the original version’s vibe (how could being back home and recording a “perfect” vocal, compare with one full of passion and awe at the experience I’d just had, moments prior?) So everything was done in the van, save the mixing which I did when I got home, and mastering, which James Bernard, Ambient Mountain House, did a super job with (as always).
I almost didn’t want to release this music. It’s too raw. Too intimate. Too personal. It’s my family memories and I kinda feel bare, letting it go. It’s almost like I’ve opened up my deeply personal, family travel journal and am now showing it to the world. This is why I’ve chosen to release this myself. I felt that involving a label would potentially mean their involvement in editing or re-orering the album. I didn’t want that to happen. I wanted this to be released exactly as I wrote it.
I am really proud of what I’ve made. And how I made it. It was a leap into the unknown for me - in so many ways. And I hope it resonates with something deep inside of you. Something yearning for those wild places. Those places where we are free. Where we are able to expand and, in doing so, see with such clarity what it is that makes us truly, deeply happy. (Spoiler: it’s not stuff. It’s the simple things.)
expansion a (south) is out on Bandcamp Presale today, with three songs available for immediate download.
It will be released in full on Bandcamp on Thursday 6 November
(I’d also love you to join me for a listening party on Wednesday 5 November at midday, Naarm/Melbourne time. RSVP)
karijini (iron. spinifex) is streaming now
(the full album will be streaming on 18 November - presave it here)
Thank you for listening, and for sharing my music. It honestly means the world to me.
xx Phoebe
PS. A couple of sound baths this week - tonight (Thu) at Assembly Yoga + Pilates, West Footscray; Sunday at Grass Roots Yoga, St Kilda. Info/book here.
PPS. 10 days til I draw the “win a sound bath at your place” competition. It’s not too late to sign up your entire family. Enter here.