On Trials, Errors And Avoiding Clichés

For Australian solo artist, Matt Corby, the prospect of a debut album was a far-away vision that is now finally ready to come to life with the release of Telluric on Monday, March 11. Corby speaks with Aaron Bryans about trials, errors and avoiding clichés ahead of his performance on Thursday, May 5, at the Riverside Theatre.

With two ARIA songs of the year to his name, Sydney-born solo artist Matt Corby has made a name for himself through five slick and captivating EPs; however the creating of his debut album, Telluric, has “For a long time I didn’t really know what to do,” Corby reveals. “You get caught up in your own head a little bit too much sometimes if you wait a bit too long between drinks, which I definitely have. The last thing I released was a while ago. I’ve definitely felt nervous about it.”

For Corby, the failure of his first attempt at recording a full LP was in his mind the result of a greater outside influence shifting him from the music he wanted to generate. As a result, his second crack at a long-player revolved largely around his friend and producer Mocky, who kept Corby focused on a sound he would be happy with.

“There were too many cooks,” Corby recalls of his first album attempt. “I fell into it without choosing to do it and I got almost through to the end and was like ‘what am I doing, what am I writing?’ I was just doing it because I had to. When I heard it at the end I didn’t think it was very good. It was a no-brainer not to release it. It wasn’t me or the music that I like; so I went back to the drawing board to start again.

“Mocky was the guy that I always wanted to do it with. I think my record label, they didn’t see his value as much as I did, he was pushing me to do something more credible. Mocky’s a pretty real dude and he’s an amazing character, he’s got a brain on him and I love the guy. I think he’s really good for people that are struggling to figure out what to do. He’s good for the mental tools to do what you should as well. He’s a real inspiring character.”

Despite writing a large majority of every layer within Telluric, Corby says the process was an enjoyable one that continued to surprise and entertain him during its two-year development.

“It’s kind of fun. Sometimes you hear this thing in your head and you get 20 minutes down the road and it’s different to what you had in mind. It’s a really fun exercise you never get what you want out of it, which I think is beautiful because you surprise yourself in what you create. You need to be patient with yourself and not get too upset if things sound shit.

“It’s easy to rattle off a couple of clichés, talk about time and how it wastes away or some bullshit, which is fine, that’s been said a million times and there is some deep thought in that; but if you take you cues from the people who are doing well they’re all talking about things as honestly and philosophically as they can, which is probably what people need now.”

Originally published X-Press Magazine