Rap Attack

Seth Sentry is coming through loud and clear… well, not quite, actually. It's a phenomenally rainy day in Melbourne and the MC formerly known as Seth Marton made the mistake of taking his phone outside in the downpour. “I think I kind of fucked my phone,” he says sheepishly. “So I'll have to shout a bit.”

Marton certainly doesn't have problems being heard these days. He rocketed out of obscurity in 2009 when an odd little song of his about crushing on a waitress scored national airplay on triple j. The Waitress Song meant that Marton's 2008 release, the small-potatoes Waiter Minute EP, suddenly became a very big deal. He met the challenge of new-found fame, touring relentlessly both on his own and supporting the likes of Pez and Horrorshow, and then made his new, fanatical fanbase wait until 2012 for his debut album, This Was Tomorrow.

The album performed well both critically and commercially, pushing Marton to even greater popularity. Now it's time to think about a sophomore LP, though – and fortunately Marton won't be keeping everyone waiting so long this time around. So what can Seth Sentry fans look forward to with album number two? “At the moment it's kind of loose ideas and a few songs, but I feel like it's a reflection of me getting a bit older and a bit more mature, which sounds fucking weird.” What does maturity mean to him, exactly? “Well, aside from the songwriting, maturity means that a video game that I've been waiting for anxiously for the last year [Titanfall] came out over a month ago and I've only been able to play it twice.” Jokes aside, Marton is enjoying his new musical direction and outlook on life. “I think it would be a disservice if I tried to keep doing the same songs and capture the same vibe on everything,” he opines.

Of course, fans aren't always open to an artist's new direction, and it's something that Marton is both aware of and ready to tackle: “Personal change reflected through music is always going to happen. It's fake to try and force a certain sound or a certain attitude just because you think that it sells.” However, he wants to avoid falling into the trap of writing music about writing music. “Whenever I hear a rapper's sophomore album and they talk about that shit, they talk about, 'I fucking made it,' or whatever, it sounds very boring to me. Rap's become my job in the last few years. I don't want to hear rappers rap about their fucking job, which is the same job as mine.”

Marton won't be debuting any of his new material for a while yet – instead, he's heading out on tour supporting Bliss N Eso. “Have you seen the fucking venues [Bliss N Eso] are playing? It's an opportunity to play in front of thousands of people. It's just crazy how big they are.” It may not be long before Marton can claim such massive crowds as his own.