Q ’n’ A: Flume

“All that I want in this world is the chance to do my thing.” New York rapper T.Shirt’s sentiment speaks volumes. As the opening words of On Top by 21-year-old Sydney it-producer Flume (aka Harley Streten), it’s an unsurprising request from the young gun on everyone’s lips. “What have you got for me, world?” T.Shirt asks, on behalf of them both. “What have you got for me?”

Ousting One Direction from their pedestal to debut at #2 on the ARIA chart last year, Flume’s now Gold-accredited, self-titled debut album is a space oddity, with the record still holding Top 15 after 11 weeks in the charts, an astounding result for an Australian album releasing amongst chart giants Taylor Swift, Pink, Mumford & Sons, Ed Sheeran et al. And wonderfully, all this Bright Young Thing from the Northern Beaches just wants is a chance to do his thing. With solid independent support from burgeoning label/management Future Classic, U.K. and U.S. signings, a bag-load of accolades–including FBi Radio’s SMAC for Record of the Year–and a fresh new single released last week featuring Melburnian hot property Chet Faker, it’s all about keepin’ on keepin’ on for Streten, who has already proved with six million YouTube views that he’s kinda onto a good thing.

With an uncanny similarity between Flume’s sharp success and that of U.K. smash Disclosure (making itself plain when Beatport named them #1 and #2 artists of 2012), it’s irrelevant if you like Flume, hate Flume, think there are ten thousand other artists just like Flume or assume Flume is a new waterslide at Wet ‘N’ Wild – this guy is proving to be one of the most important Australian artists right now and there’s not a thing you can do to stop it…

Your debut album and leading single have already gone Gold now which is a massive achievement in such a short amount of time, especially taking out some of the world’s biggest pop artists to debut at #2. Where’s your head at with such a rapid surge? 

First of all, it’s really nice to know that there’s so much support coming from so many people. For me making the music was never about getting stats, going Gold, being number this or that, so having all these stats and things is just a big bonus. I try not to think about all that stuff too much and just concentrate on writing the music that feels right, rather than having those thoughts in the back of my head. I’ve got to admit though, beating One Direction was seriously satisfying – I got a bit of hate mail from young One Direction fans saying stuff like “Who the fuck is Flume?” which was great and I enjoyed every one of their letters. I think it’s really cool that young teenagers, fourteen/fifteen year olds, are choosing to listen to my music. Kids that listen to Justin Bieber and One Direction on repeat have been playing the album, which I think is really awesome and hopefully helps educate a more open-minded generation of kids.

You just signed deals with Transgressive/Co-Op and Mom + Pop which is a massive jump to the international market. Do you think your music is going to translate in the U.S./U.K.? 

It’s hard to say but I feel like it was a really positive thing having Australia as a testing ground for the record. U.K./Europe and America are definitely much bigger markets, so the fact it’s done well in Australia is a really positive sign. For me, I think it’ll be quite interesting putting out the music into a market that already has a scene for what I do. Back in Australia it’s not such a big thing, although in saying that there is a really promising scene growing in Australia with guys like Ta-Ku, Chet Faker and Hermitude.

Speaking of which, collaborations are such a strong point for you with your album sporting a stack of well-chosen guests and a swathe of remixes by you and for you rolling around. Can you tell us a bit about how your collaborations (Chet Faker, Hermitude, T.Shirt, George Maple et al) came about?

Back when it all started a lot of the artists that I’ve been working with have had some connection with Future Classic. I guess I used the label to help me source a lot of vocalists, when you don’t have much profile as an artist it’s hard to find the right people to work with. George Maple for example, is Jess who sang on Flight Facilities’ Foreign Language track. We linked up one day and recorded that tune in her friend’s home studio, whereas T. Shirt is actually from New York and my manager bumped into his manager when they were both over there, and it just kind of worked out. With the Chet Faker track, a friend actually showed me his music one day. We were in his garage just drinking beers and hanging out and he put some Chet Faker on. I’d never heard of him before but I instantly fell in love with his vocals, so the next day I Googled him to find out more about this character. Anyway, I found out that he actually lived in Melbourne, which was really surprising for me; I thought he might live in the U.S. or somewhere further away. When I was in Melbourne we met up and talked about stuff, and took it from there. So a lot of collaborations just stem from friends and connections, but I’m really happy with how it all came together. 

Each step of the way you seem to have a real respect for the sounds of the ‘90s, whether that be trance, electronica, hip hop or down tempo R’n’B, while your younger fan base are probably not old enough to remember that sound. Do you think that matters? Or are those sounds just continuously infectious enough to keep coming back?

I don’t think that matters so much. To be honest the biggest influence to me would’ve been more around 2006-2007 with the whole electro music thing, but also I think it’s really trance music, the French electro thing and all the brain feeder kind of weird stuff from guys like Flying Lotus, Hudson Mohawke, Jamie XX that have recently had a big influence on the sound. Then of course there are guys like Moby and M83 that I draw a lot of inspiration from. I think the most important thing is just to be really open-minded because good music comes in all shapes and forms.