The Sound Of Wanderlust

At a young age, Lior Attard (who simply goes by Lior) was bitten by the travel bug. At this same point in his youth, Attard also discovered an unrelenting passion for music. He's been lucky – his childhood dream of living a life dedicated to both music and travel simultaneously has been realised.
This March, Lior releases his fourth album, Scattered Reflections. The album, which was written parallel to the completion of a collaborative orchestral project alongside composer, conductor and friend, Nigel Westlake, is the accumulative product of Lior's travels.
“I do find that travelling is a great inspiration for songwriting,” Lior admits, outlining the way in which he was able to piece together every experience on the road and turn them into songs. “It doesn't always happen actually when you're there, but I find that it fills your mind with images and experiences that you can use in later years and draw and reflect upon.
“Not many of the songs are place-specific. You know, there's a song called My Grandfather, which really details the story of my life and my relationship with my grandfather. And then there's the title track, Scattered Reflections, which talks about a travel experience. The lyrics are pretty eclectic.” The stories he tells are indeed eclectic, delving into personal recollections of his more recent – and most vivid – experiences abroad.
“About half of the album was co-written with a good friend and really talented guitarist/musician, Cameron Deyell, and he was living in India at the time, so I went and spent a week with him in Delhi, which was pretty full on. We did a couple of days of writing in an amazing converted 14th century fort in a place in the Rajasthan desert. There's a song called A Lift In The Morning Fog – I can remember sitting on the balcony there looking at it in the Rajasthan desert and feeling pretty transported and that song just came out.”
Recommended by Gomez's Ian Ball, Scattered Reflections was made possible by the aid of crowdfunding – specifically through a PledgeMusic online campaign. Lior admits his initial disdain regards the idea.
“I just really liked the way that the website was set up and the fact that it let you do more than just ask to people to pre-buy the album; it gave you a way to offer other things and communicate with your audience.
“It fits my whole philosophy that we're now in a time where, really, it is about community with music and that community is not necessarily dictated by geography, but it's dictated by taste. The day of the big record company being the gatekeeper to making an album is fast drawing to a close. It's something I felt good about, so I thought I'd give it a go and it turned out to be fantastic.”
The crowdfunding method wasn't without its concerns.
“I didn't feel pressure to make [the album] more mature, but I did feel a pressure to make the album quality. The fact that a group of people had put their faith in my creative vision – I tried to keep it very pure and follow my creative muse, but obviously there's that thing in the back of your mind that people have pitched in and they've funded the record, so you hope that they like it.”
Commencing not long before the album's official release, Lior will be taking Scattered Reflections on the road. Unsurprising in light of Lior's fondness for travelling, the tour will see him spending a lot of time along the east coast, stopping at regional venues and festivals both with his band and in some intimate solo shows. Despite his concern about its reception, Lior feels confident that it will translate well on stage, particularly given the contribution of his new band members, the usually jazz drummer Evan Mannell and Holly Throsby percussionist Bree Van Reyk.
“I think the band is a really interesting mix of musicians and the arrangements are really wonderful and there's also an element of the album that has a very acoustic and lyrical thread that people might be more used to, so I think the eclectic nature of the album works in this way.”