Q&A: Gordi VR clip, puppets and harmoniums

Where are you right now?

I’m in San Francisco. So we’ve sound checked, and now we’re just in between sound checking and showtime, which is in like an hour, I think. So yeah.

Great. Where are you playing?

At a place called Café Du Nord, which is yeah, kind of not like sort of in the Castro area. Yeah.

That’s a bit fun. How many of the US shows have you done?

We got to … Yeah, I feel like we’ve been away for months. We haven’t! We got to Montreal like a week and a half ago. And we played Osheaga on the 5th of August, and then we were like in a different state, city, everyday. So we went to Toronto. And then we went to Boston, New York, Philadelphia, DC, Chicago, Seattle, and then here, and then … Is that right? Yeah, and then LA tomorrow and the next day, and then home to Sydney on Friday. And so I’ll be home for the release week for the record next week.

Aw, yay! That’s nice to be home.

Yeah, it’s cool.

Yeah. Standard question, how are you feeling about it, being out in the world? Is it kind of like, “Oh my God, just get it out of me already,” or is it more like kind of “No, it’s about how it’s received?”

I think so. I mean, I think it’s been kind of good to be on tour, because like it’s been such a hectic time over here, that … Now that I’ve had a long time to think about it. But I’m just excited, like I’m really, there’s no kind of anxiety or dread, I’m just genuinely excited to get it out in the world, and you know, I mean actually show people a body of work that I worked on for like four years.

Yeah!

So it’s a really … Yeah, I’m just really excited to get it out there. But it’s, you know, a pretty kind of crazy time at the moment. So I kind of don’t have, I feel like I haven’t really had time to sort of totally process it, which I mean maybe is a good thing, because it just eugh, you know? Keep on keeping on.

Yeah, there’s a lot of kind of just keep your head down, don’t look at the Internet, and-

Yeah.

Do whatever you’re doing.

Yeah, that’s it! Exactly. [inaudible 00:02:51]

Yeah. I’m trying to remember the first time I saw you live. I think it was the FBI thing at [Carrotworks 00:03:01], which was …

I had laryngitis that day!

Oh no!

So that was not a good intro.

Oh, it was still pretty impressive. I don’t know, I think that was a really interesting space for a lot of bands, like I think [Velas Alps 00:03:17] played the same space that afternoon, and some people like that. It’s just … Because I wanted to ask about the swimming pool studios, [inaudible 00:03:26] studio, and … What was that space like, in terms of how it responded to the sounds that you’re making?

Yeah, it was incredible. So we did, we recorded a string quartet there, for the record. And it was, yeah. I mean, it was indredible. It’s like, of course like classic [inaudible 00:03:51] a little river runs through the studio, like under the studio! It’s just like the most majestic thing. It’s in this tiny little village outside of [Raken 00:04:02]

It just sounded beautiful, and there’s a couple of moments on the record. The biggest one is probably in the song called, “Aeon”, where it’s like everything else falls away. And it’s like this little string quartet moment, and there’s no other instruments playing. It’s just a kind of solo moment for them. And it’s one of the most incredible things I’ve ever heard. It really makes my heart melt every time I listen to it. And it’s such a, you know those kind of, like, amazing creative surroundings, like, are so.. I just.. You know, are so inspiring, like, I think that you can only ask.. Kind of.. You could only draw on so much inspiration from within yourself, before you reach a point where you’re like okay, I need something around me that’s going to inspire me as well; whether or not lyrically just in terms of imagining, yeah, what kind of sounds were going to be on the record. Like, being in beautiful places and really interesting kind of spaces, was really key that.

What came first? Was it working with Alec Summers or getting into that studio?

Yeah, working with Alec Summers, for sure. So, we .. I ..We’ve reached out to him, asked if he wanted to work on a few songs that I’d written. And, so, I picked the ones quite carefully, because they’re the ones that I wanted to be a bit more, like, cinematic, and just kind of those beautiful sleeping sound scapes. So, I took those three songs with me over there, and then I was even working at his studio, which is in the city of Brakovich, and I was like, “I really want to record strings. You know, what do you think the best way to do that?” And, he was like, “Well … It’s like a string quartet who go under the name Amina, who’ve played on a lot of bigger ass records and they’re, like, really, really talented ladies. He was like, “Yeah, I’ll just call them up.” And he’s like, “I think we should do it [inaudible 00:01:54] in the pool studio.” And, I was like, “Yeah, that’s cool, sure. That’s fine by me.” So, he just sort of, you know, had all these, kind of, resources at his fingertips. And, I was a very lucky beneficiary.

Was “Bitter End” one of the songs that he worked on?

Yeah, yeah it was.

Yep, no, I thought so, as soon as you hear it.. I was actually just re-watching the video then, just the 2D version. And, I was just like,”Oh, my feelings. Oh, God.”

The little puppet. Oh, he’s so cute.

Nigel.

He breaks your heart.

He really does. He’s got the saddest little face.

He kind of reminded me of Gollum, like, for a minute.

Yeah.

But, then, like, sometimes, Gollum’s actually kind of cute, sometimes, when he’s not, like, being evil.

Yeah.

When I saw that marionette, I was like,”Oh my God, it’s gonna be breaking hearts.”

Yeah, it’s pretty.. Like, it’s nice. It’s sort of uplifting. The concept itself and, like, that little story line of it, you know. Like..

His little journey.

Yeah. The way he kind of flies and stuff like that. Like, it’s simple, but it’s..

Yeah.

And it’s kind of uplifting, but sort of circular at the same time. And so you’re not sure if it’s a happy ending.

Totally. Yeah, which I think was a good, like, I mean, it’s a perfect, like visual to encapsulate the song, which essentially is that kind of, like, just absolute circular motion of kind of, like, the song is sort of a critique on the world that was around me at the time; which was a lot of early twenty somethings, who were obsessed with, you know, their own kind of small worlds. And I was feeling really cynical and disenchanted. And, then, it kind of ended full circle in me thinking, if life’s not about our own little worlds, then, like, what’s the point? So, it was kind of, you know.. It did end up on a more uplifting.. Kind of like, that stuff actually does matter.

I guess that’s all you’ve got really is just like you’re in your box.

Yeah, totally.

Yeah.

Yeah. Exactly.

So, how much kind of.. Tell me about how the video kind of came together. Like, how much you sort of.. Like, did you give sort of a brief about, like, you know.. Or did you let the director kind of run with the song?

So, we kind of, like.. I put my thoughts together on what I kind of wanted broadly speaking, because, I mean, you know, the whole point, I think, of getting my producers and directors isn’t to, like, hold their hand and tell them, “Do this, do that.” It’s, like, give them a brief idea of what you want and then kind of let them do their job and do it well. So, we, like, I basically.. I kind of came back from the tour I did in Europe and I’d been thinking a lot about the visual and what I wanted for the bitter end clip. And I really was set on this idea of something really simple like.. And focusing on one person. I didn’t think of the puppet or marionette, but I wanted it to be a story about one person and like no one else in the clip. Just, like, this one person and I wanted them to be doing something. Like, to be creating something. Like, I originally thought of this idea of someone, like, making a pot, like a ceramicist or someone, like, creating a tapestry, or someone building something.

And it was this idea of, kind of this beautiful simple movement of just this someone, kind of exactly like the song, someone’s small little world and like a little peep into their world. And what is at the centre of it. And kind of the fact that in all of these tiny little lives all across the world everyone is going through, you know, things that are unique to them. So, I just wanted it to be, like, yeah, just a kind of one figure who had some simple journey. Like, nothing complicated, not a big like cliff hangar or plot twist. Just like, something really simple and I wanted it to kind of, you know, be sort of moving in a way, like through movement I guess.

So, we put that brief out and got a few different people writing stuff back in and, yeah, the guy, Beats, who sent this treatment back in about the marionette, we just really fell in love with it. And, I flew down to Melbourne just before I came away to the states, and did like the filming of me kind of singing, but stand projected on a screen behind the little guy. And, got to meet with the director. You know, we talked at length about the clip and that sort of stuff and how, yeah, it kind of really ended up in exactly the place I wanted it. Even though I didn’t, you know, imagine it to be this gorgeous little marionette. It was exactly kind of the essence of what I had hoped it would be.

And when did you decide that, like the owl was the right thing for it? Like, at what point did that feel like the right thing..

Yeah, we talked about that, my manager and I had been talking about the owl for a while just as in like, I haven’t really seen a whole lot of stuff in it. I haven’t really seen many clips in it. There’s been a few really cool ones. But, yeah, we just kind of became.. I think, because “Bitter End” for us, like, it’s not a.. You never know what’s gonna happen with the song. But, say, like, the song that came out before this one, “On My Side” is probably a bit more of a classic, like, radio song. You know, because it’s upbeat and fast paced pace; whereas, “Bitter End” is.. We sort of.. I don’t know. We just kind of.. I think we felt a lot less pressure with it, because it’s not, you know, it wasn’t like that was gonna, like, we were gonna force that down the throat of the radio people or whatever it was. So, I feel like we had a bit more freedom to think, like, let’s do something kind of cool with this. And, let’s, like, really think outside the box.

And the art was like, just kind of, seemed really kind of perfect to us, and we kind of kept talking about it. Anyway, we sent this draught out, this brief out. And, then we got these treatments back and this one with the marionette, as well, had this Viha concept in it. We were like, yeah, it’s just, it’s so, it was so perfect and it kind of had brought out all the things we’d been thinking about. So it just.. Yeah, all the stars kind of aligned.

But, I think Viha in itself is just, even again, like, the idea of this song is, like, you know how important is someone’s world, you know, someone’s tiny little world and by doing the odd thing, and you’re like immersing yourself in this world. And, like, in the actual clip all the stuff, like, the bears and everything, is, like, to scale so that you’re in, like, this miniature world. And if you watch it in 360, you’re completely surrounded by it, which I think is just, yeah, it’s really cool.

I like that it’s like immersive, but not.. You know, it’s not like it’s trying to trick you into thinking it’s really.. You know, you can see the strings on Nigel. You can, you know, look up and see the puppeteer’s hands. You know?

Yeah, yeah. Which I think is cool and there’s just like.. I mean, yeah, there are obviously so.. At the very beginning’s in music that you can just imagine endless possibilities of like, you know, having it kind of in the green room backstage and, you know, showing footage after and people can feel like they’re in the room with you. And, I think there’s kind of so many possibilities for its own to kind of dive into that world.

Yeah, like, because, I mean, I think a lot of people try to.. They want to do.. “Oh, could we do something with this”, because it’s like a cool new thing, but unless it’s actually right for the music..

Yeah, I think it needs to.. I agree. I think like using techniques like that you know should kind of speak to a deeper, you know, speak to a deeper connection, like, from the medium to the meaning of the song because I think just using something for the sake of, like, thinking something’s cool is you know, I mean sometimes it works, but sometimes it just doesn’t quite seem authentic or something.

Yeah, yeah, I think.. I don’t know, it’s just really interesting all the really big artists are doing, you know, you got the, like, Adrian was telling me Adele just invested in some huge platform.

Well, he just.. He sent me a screen shot of this thing like after I just got this first draught back of the video and we were like so happy with it. And, then he sent me this screen shot like being Adele who just invested in the 360. He was like, “We got it at a good time.”

Were you..

But, yeah.

Were you on set for the actual puppet shoot?

No. And, I would’ve been, but I was on tour. I was in Canada, so, it was just all, like, classic in the music industry, very tight for time. And, so, like, I flew out on the Friday and the earliest this shoot could happen was the Saturday. But, so, Adrian flew down to Melbourne to be there as sort of the eyes and ears. But, we kind of talked so much about it. And, I talked so much about it with the director, I felt pretty, kind of confident that it would, you know, all run smoothly.

Yeah, so you haven’t actually met the puppet in person? As the star?

I haven’t. No, which is so weird. It’s quite funny. Like, the director was saying that, when they were, like, doing a little rehearsal that the puppet.. He was like, “I kept forgetting that it was just like a puppet, so I keep saying to the puppeteer, like, ’you know I want it to like pick up this thing and take it over here.’” And the puppeteer was like, “It’s a puppet. It can’t do that.” And, he was like, “Oh, yeah. I forgot. Sorry. I forgot that it’s not an actual tiny human.”

Do you know who named it Nigel, because that is the most amazing thing.

I think the puppeteer actually made it. Like, the puppeteer makes all these puppets and owns them. So, maybe it was them.

I like it. It’s sort of.. I mean Nigel, there’s still something kind of gender neutral about the puppet. And, you know, it’s a..

Ageless.

Yeah, and it’s cute and fun, but it’s also.. You get so, so invested in it. It’s really devastating. Alright, okay, well, you probably need to go, like warm up and stuff, soon.

Yeah, in a little bit. But, if any more.. Should you have any more questions, definitely shoot..

Yeah, I’ll shoot something through to Adrian, if I need anything summed up. I’m sorry, I’m looking at your little photo journal from Iceland and stuff. And, it’s..

Oh, cool.

It’s a nice thing to have like in front of me while I’m chatting to you.

Yeah. It is, kind of, like, try to make you interested to document the whole process, ’because it has been so cool. And, I think like, I don’t know, people get new records and new singles all the time, so if you can try and help people connect to it, in any extra way, I think that’s a good thing.

All that, like, wood and the..

Oh, it was amazing.

Yeah.

So beautiful.

Oh, it’s amazing. Yeah, these are so cute, you guys sitting around in the studio and..

Yeah.

That’s the harmonia that you were talking about in the liner notes. Alec..

Yeah, that’s it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

What is..

Yeah, it was amazing.

What is it about the harmonia, because I remember you said that you got one at home, as well. That’s where you were going to put your professional devil.

Yeah. Yeah, that’s it. I.. It’s the first time I played one, actually, was on the record. But, you know, the same principles as a piano, pretty much. But, it was just.. Yeah, I don’t know, it just sounded so beautiful. And, so when I came home, I was like on a mission. I was on Gumtree every week, seeing if there were any harmoniums. And, then, one popped in Bassist, which is not far from where my parents live. So, we took, like, Adrian’s big land, parents’ land cruiser home one weekend. And, then brought it back and I bought it off this guy for a few hundred bucks. And, he was, like, telling me that it was his, like, great, like, grandmother’s or something. And, then he played me the entirety of, “How Great Thou Art” on it, just as a parting gift, which he reinforced, how, just how cool it is.