A Quick Chat with Maxine Gillon

What was the inspiration for your new single ‘Venus of Brunswick East’?

I guess it started with the line “My baby drives an SUV” which I thought was a funny lesbian 30’s version of the rock n’ roll trope of boastful teenage car songs. I was living in Brunswick East at the time and my girlfriend works there. It’s about her picking me up and driving us to a mediaeval fair in Ballarat with the journey being symbolic of the deepening intimacy in our relationship.

Sonically it was inspired by the beautiful chiming guitar arpeggios of 80’s indie bands such as The Smiths, Cocteau Twins & Echo & The Bunnymen, as well as The Byrds, Television and 60’s wall-of-sound girl groups.

What does the title mean?

The title is a play on the Roman goddess of love and the subsequent great venuses of art history such as ‘Venus of Urbino’ and ‘Venus of Willendorf’, placing the same devotional status into a suburban modern queer context. I love to reference art and pop-culture in my songs in the same way that referencing common phrases and idioms allows you to convey large amounts of information with a few words. It also shows a lineage of the intersection of art and music that started in a pop-cultural sense with The Velvet Underground.

Your recent work shows a marked departure from more abrasive noisy post-punk of ‘Ultra Lounge’ to lighter dream pop, what inspired this shift?

I guess my early musical inspirations all came from a noisy place like Sonic Youth, The Birthday Party, Cocteau Twins, The Jesus & Mary Chain to name a few. A lot of these bands actually had really beautiful melodies and sweetness underneath but were just hidden or juxtaposed with horrific noise. Much like those artists' later work, I have slowly outgrown the need to disguise those things, some might say it’s maturing as well as wanting to show a broader cross-section of emotion and colour in my work.

I think predominantly the role of music should be to soothe, awe & connect with people, so my goal these days is to make music as beautiful, romantic and accomplished as possible; albeit with an individual edge.

What’s your creative process like? What inspires you to write music?

It usually starts with a phrase or a word or two, I’ll put them in my notes app and leave them for days, weeks, months. Then I’ll be messing around on the guitar and might stumble across a chord sequence or arpeggio that interests me. I’ll see if any phrases I’ve collected fit as a springboard and go from there!

Music talks to you if you listen, a guitar part tells me which counter melodies or bass parts and drums the song needs, which I’ll then put in a demo and work on until it’s not a demo anymore. The meaning behind songs is also very instinctual and subconscious for me, I generally trust my intuition and find meaning a bit later in the process or a lot later. The crux and value of an artist is their intuition is my opinion.

Everything inspires me whether it’s good or bad, mundane or important. I’ve come to realise that songwriting is how I process emotions, experiences and people in my life. It’s a way of paying tribute to or capturing feelings, atmospheres and moments. 

The single is being released as a 7” vinyl single that has a vinyl exclusive b-side, a cover of ‘Song to the Siren’ by Tim Buckley. Why was a vinyl release important to you?

As a millennial my first consumption of music was on cds. As a teenager I loved leafing through rows and rows of them in the ‘Alternative’ section of JBHIFI among others. At this stage I was buying compilations and would later buy an album of any song I liked on them without having listened to the whole album before, or even buy a cd based on hearing about a band or even the interesting cover art. I think that's a very personal, romantic and intimate way of consuming music. It required more choice, care, time and commitment than the streaming and tiktok era we live in where those things are lacking in some ways. I wanted to replicate this relationship (but as the artist this time) to try and cultivate the same devotional bond that existed between the artist and audience in my teenage era.

I approached Colossus Records with the idea and they loved it as much as I did. They're a great Melbourne based label that released Girl & Girl’s first vinyl release who have since gone on to sign to Sub Pop. They really care about fostering unique and overlooked talent in the Australian music scene, they were great to work with.

What inspired you to cover ‘Song to the Siren’?

I’d say ‘Song to the Siren’ is very close to the best song ever written. It’s the epitome of potently conveying deep emotion through a fantastical spiritual lens. The original by Tim Buckley with just his voice and guitar is astounding every listen. It also has a great swathe of explorative interpretations from This Mortal Coil, Sinead O’Connor, to Paul Charlier and Paula Arundell’s version for the movie ‘Candy’ and Bryan Ferry among others.

I’ve been playing it on guitar for years and really obsessed over pulling off a compelling and sufficiently individual version that I dare say I pulled off. Dissecting and then re-interpreting an existing song can be a potent mark of your own growing songwriting prowess.

What’s next for you in 2024?

Well I’ve just released this record, I’m doing some launch shows in Melbourne & Sydney soon in support of it. I’m also working on some new songs, some of which might see the light of day before the year is out. I’m always just sort of pottering away on my music, I never stop.

Upcoming launch shows:

Melbourne: August 30th, Bell City Takeaway, Preston w/ Imogen Cygler & Liam Wright (tickets)

Sydney: September 7th, Golden Age Cinema, Surry Hills w/ Rik Saunders (free rsvp tickets)

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