A QUICK CHAT WITH ELMAR

What was the motivation to start the new ELMAR project? And how does it differ from your work with Mansionair?

The creation of Elmar came quite organically, I had begun to delve further into my own songwriting and production work as a way to wind down on the weekends, having worked collaboratively for almost 10 years at the time, I wanted to see what it was like creating a world that was solely my own. Elmar began to reflect my love of the ocean, and snowballed very quickly into an outburst of songs and ideas. I was feeling incredibly inspired by other artists in similar worlds, artists like Sade, Oso Leone, Khruangbin.

Mansionair is a 3 equal part project with multiple ideas derived into one single vision. With Elmar I wanted to try my hand at something that didn't rely on the talents of my band mates strengths, a task that relied on me strengthening my weaknesses as an artist and a musician. In doing so it allowed me to focus more deeply on the songs as a whole, rather than just lyric and melody. Having spent so much time on the music, It felt as though I was able to let a lot of the melodies and lyrics write themselves, something that I think stopped me from overediting or overwriting.

The project title references the ocean - can you tell us why this was such an integral theme for the project?

Since I was a kid I have loved the ocean - having grown up surfing, swimming and just being around the water, I've developed quite a dependance on it. Even just watching the horizon has always had me mesmerised. For me Elmar was a return to this love of the water, having spent a lot of time touring and living in cities I came back to my hometown by the water and was reminded just how soothing it is. I wanted to incorporate that love of the ocean into the music. I wanted to share songs that felt lighter than my previous work and I think the ocean was a theme that helped me convey this. 

You mentioned that ‘Beneath My Skin’ is about laying down old habits and beliefs - can you tell us more about this?

I think as I got older I relied on things being the way they'd always been to make me feel comfortable and safe. For some reason, something shifted in me a few years ago, where I grew sick of always chasing the same reliable habits and I wanted to shift that way of thinking. At the time, the easiest way for me to do that was to go out on my own creatively and challenge myself to get better at my craft, this overtime allowed me to apply the same theory to other things, like getting healthier, taking a risk on living in new countries, and meeting new people. As I started to shift this mindset, my world began to open up and I found new ways to be myself. Beneath My Skin was a catalyst to that approach

How did your collaboration with Ross James (Upsidedownhead) come about for this project, and what was the creative process like working together?

Ross & I had been in the same musical circles in sydney over the years, we'd say hi at gigs and what not. In 2019 - Ross asked if I wanted to write a song with him for his project Upsidedownhead. The song 'twice as tough' eventually came out and we had a chemistry in the studio that really seemed to click. I approached Ross in 2021 asking if he'd help me make sense of the early productions I'd made for Elmar, and he very kindly accepted. We worked on and off for 3 years, sometimes in the studio together but often working on the sessions in our own time. Our process works really well cause i'm more of a bigger concept, feeling, vibe kinda energy in the studio. And Ross is very technically driven and super talented in dialing the right sound for something. 

Who are your biggest musical inspirations? And who are you really enjoying right now?

I joke to myself that Elmar sits between a Cafe Del Mar Compilation CD and a Sade record. So I feel like those two pillars are strong musical inspirations for Elmar. I'm a big fan of this Majorcan band called Oso Leone, as well as Air, & Common Saints. I'm really enjoying listening to this artist called Sulah Jordan at the moment - particularly the track 'Jasmine'

What would be your advice to young producers wanting to make a career for themselves?

I see this advice everywhere so it's nothing new, but i'm guided by this

"when you write for other's taste, you're guessing - when you write for your taste, you're knowing"

What can fans expect from ELMAR in the future?

A whole bunch more music, it's all ready to go. I'm also going down to the south coast for a live recording session, which i'm really excited for. Hopefully from there too there'll be some live shows on the horizon.