A Quick Chat with hunter 505

Sydney's alt hip-hop artist, hunter 505 recently released his new EP 'mood'.
With the 5-track sonic journey that highlights the emotional struggle within, hunter and his genre-defying style incorporates hip-hop bravado, neo-soul slickness and indie-pop energy. We caught up with him for a quick chat about the EP, his influences and more.

Congrats on the new EP! Can you tell me what 'mood' is about?
Thanks so much! It feels great for it to finally be out. 'mood' is about the process of looking inward at our emotional ebbs and flows and trying to establish some stability and positivity. With this stronger psychological foundation, it becomes easier to discover who we are and feel comfortable in our own skin. 'mood' is the counterpart to my collection 'doom' released late last year that explores our relationship with the external world, both physical and cyber; so where 'doom' looks outside, 'mood' looks within.

What are some of our influences when it comes to music and why?
The top 5 artists that have influenced me are Kanye West, XXXTENTACION, The Weeknd, Drake and Travis Scott. Kanye's sonic aesthetics and experimental instincts are among some of the greatest of any artist I have ever experienced. XXXTENTACION's music is beautiful, depressing, thoughtful, enraging; just straight up raw emotions compressed into audio - I feel that he represented a milestone in the changing landscape of hip-hop, twisting from a more aggressive, lyric-oriented (let alone toxically masculine) genre to a more honest, expressive style of music. He was possibly the rawest artist I've ever heard. I love the darkness and sultriness of The Weeknd's creations and the way that, over the last ten years, he has transformed his niche sound into one of the formative influences of contemporary pop music. The vision that The Weeknd has had across each of his projects is something that I aspire towards. Drake is one of those artists that knows exactly how to find a pocket in any beat and can either sing or rap his ass off, and for years he has always been pushing himself into different rhythms and styles of music. Finally, the psychedelic trap aesthetic that Travis Scott has cultivated strikes the perfect balance for me between interesting, other-worldly sounds and smooth, intoxicating ear candy.

What's the creative process for you, from writing through to recording?
I generally start with a sample or a melodic part I have written and I program in some drums and bass and immediately punch in some freestyled vocals. Then, I flesh out the arrangement and try to crack the soul of the song (ie the concept, both lyrically and sonically) - these days I try to write as much of each song as I can in that first session. I tend to stack up 5-10 ideas/rough demos per session (typically 3-6 hours long). The next part is crucial to my process: I leave it for a while and do whatever else I need to, then I'll come back to the ideas that night, or a couple of days later, and I really critically evaluate which ones make me think or feel or move, and which ones are just fine. I cut the fine ones and I continue to write and finish the ones that survive for as long as they keep ticking those boxes. Once they're fully produced and written, I get in recording mode and get back in touch with my voice and experiment with deliveries until I'm happy with how all the recordings are sounding. Finally, I switch into engineering mode and mix and master the tracks. This requires a less creative and more technical perspective which helps me push to get the best sounds out of each song.

What do you think makes a great song?
The most important aspect to me is interesting sound design. Anyone can hit keys on a piano or strum a guitar, but giving a song its own unique aural fingerprint is the golden standard for me. That's quickly followed by a captivating yet catchy vocal, because that's what sticks in your head and you will sing along to. A solid, balanced, dramatic yet dynamic mix is also really important. Lyrics are interesting as they seem to be the component that listeners last engage with, so while they are also crucial to a great song, if you can tell the song's story independently of the lyrics then I think great lyrics only significantly augment the song as fans listen again and again. When I'm listening to my favourite foreign artists like Bad Bunny, I never understand what they're saying, and even translations cannot begin to do justice to the cultural complexities embedded in language, but I love their music because it's everything else that's telling me the story.

If you could collaborate with any artist, who would it be and why?
Easily any of my top 5, but if I have to choose one, I think The Weeknd, just because I think he's at the absolute top of his game and his style would complement mine perfectly. Top 10 honourable mentions would include JAY Z, Doja Cat, Post Malone, Juice WRLD, Tame Impala, PNAU, bbno$, Bad Bunny, Amine and BENEE.

When not working on music, what other creative outlet do you have?

My biggest passion after music is philosophy. Engaging with the ideas of humanity's greatest thinkers from Plato and Aristotle to Russell and Chomsky is so creatively fulfilling. I also find reading great fiction so inspirational for both conceptual thinking and aesthetic writing. And I also love cooking and especially baking - cookies, cupcakes, all that stuff.

Who are some local artists/ bands we should check out?
Honestly, I'm such an independent, self-sufficient artist that I don't really mix with as much of the local scene as I would like to. One of the best local artists I've heard is Amorist, beautiful style, and I really liked the new projects from Mason Dane and 1300. Personally, I'm especially inspired by universal music that speaks to different cultures so I keep more of an ear on the global scene.

Winter or summer and why?
Summer for sure, winter is too cold! I truly appreciate the winter aesthetic, I can really get into those depressed vibes; but nah gotta go for summer. Feeling that summer warmth is like ambrosia for the soul.

What else do you have planned for the year?
I have A LOT more planned ! 'doom', 'idgaf' and 'mood' were phase 1 of hunter 505, so we're now in the transitional period to phase 2. I'm in the mixing stage of my upcoming album titled '<3', which is more pop-focused and just super-cute but still got that signature hunter 505 style lyrically, melodically and sonically. It won't be long before the singles drop. I'm also planning to get back on stage for the first time since COVID hit so that should be real fun. I'm just trying to build on the momentum and give everyone more and more as the year goes on so keep an eye out for new hunter 505 !!!

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australianmusicscene11 June 2022