INTERVIEW: Slow Magic

SLOW MAGIC is the sound made by an unknown imaginary friend, an LED masked beast who attacks his brand of wavvy sunburnt synthpop with frenzied percussion.

His second album 'How To Run Away' was released in September last year and he's currently touring it throughout the Asia/Pacific region. I caught up with him at Beyond The Valley at his southernmost show to ask him all the big questions

You’ve been in Sydney already, what else have you done in Australia so far?

Yesterday in Sydney was the first show and the day before we flew in from LA so yeah we just got here

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Were you on tour over there as well?

I had a bit of time off for Christmas but that’s all

Are you enjoying it here in Australia? You’ve gotten some good weather so far.

Yeah definitely, its nice because the days are longer and its summertime here so its cool

Your music does have a real summery feel to it, is that something you do deliberately?

Yeah I think so, I think the writing process is either, sometimes its really cold and I'm hoping for summer and that comes through or it is a nice summer day and that comes through in the music as well. But yeah yesterday was really sunny on the stage and I was kinda cursing the sun a little bit, but I guess it fits with my music so I had to embrace the sweatiness under the mask.

What is the inspiration behind your mask?

When I started the project about three years ago I just wanted people to focus on the music instead of identity or location or a face so it just kinda built from there and eventually I had offers to play some shows so I decided to think of a mask to make and I made it with a friend and it evolved from there I guess.

If I take it off, will you die?

Yeah I wear it all the time, as I am right now, so yeah it is my face.

Is Slow Magic then more of a character than a personal project?

Yeah I guess in a lot of ways its both at the same time, I still feel like the project is as personal as I can be but at the same time I get to have fun with the character and also the identity coz I can walk around at a festival such as this and no one notices

Have there been any Australian acts you’ve checked out or had an eye on?

Yeah yesterday in Sydney I saw TOUCH SENSITIVE and I saw ALLDAY which was really cool and yeah there's a lot of stuff that I'm excited to see and a lot of stuff I haven’t been able to see live before that I’m excited to see today.

Your new album has a lot more vocals on it than your first album, why?

With the mask and the identity I wanted to, originally with my first album, make something universal that had no lyrics, but I guess I wanted something a little bit more narrative on the album and after travelling a lot I've realised that almost everyone I've met can speak a little bit of English so I guess I should include that as I'm lucky its my main language.

Do you find when you’re making music with vocals to it you approach it differently?

A little bit yeah, I think the process for the second album was almost exactly the same as the first in a lot of ways but I tried to push myself to do it a little differently, I still did it in my bedroom and recorded my own instruments and a few friends vocals but I guess it just changed with the mood I wanted to have.

Do you write the melodies for the lyrics?

Yeah and I sing a bit and my friends do to so I mix it all together, in the same way that I write the piano melodies I kind of apply that to the vocals too

On your first album the synth leads often sound like a vocal melody

Yeah and on the first album I'd sample chops of my voice or something and then put it on a piano like a vocal that wasn’t lyrical I guess.

I first came across your music on a cute girls tumblr, do you think they are an underrated marketing tool?

Personally I'm not on tumblr that much so personally I think I underrate cute girls tumblrs a bit but I think they do have a big impact on the world and um hopefully all positively

Do you think traditional marketing routes are ineffective in this online world of sharing?

I think its all about how you approach it, I think that a lot of the things that have worked for years and years still work but its just about being smart about how you go about it, a lot of people are talking about how the record or the album is dying but I think its all up to if you can make your album good enough to stand still, but maybe its all about singles now, I don’t know.

You have a very visual approach towards music with your artwork and mask etc. are physical releases something you really like to focus on?

Yeah I think its really valuable to hold onto a piece of music, vinyl's definitely made a big comeback and its still growing but yeah I think holding a nice, anything, is still something that's cool, its like analog. But its still also fun to instantly hear a new song when it comes out. I think its all valid and I really don’t have any complaints about the way its changing and I think you’ve just got to adapt with it I guess, creatively.

Do you do the artwork for your stuff?

I'm still involved with all the artwork, I started out doing a lot of it myself but like, the original mask design was done by a friend of mine, Jonas McCluggage, so yeah I work with a lot of friends now like the album cover is a collaboration with some friends and I mean I'm still really involved in the process of things

Your new album only came out a couple months ago but do you have anything planned release wise?

Nothing new at the moment but I'm working on some collaborations and remixes at the moment but for now I'm just still playing the record and a few things that might be unreleased live but yeah, I’m still thinking of new music or a new album, if albums exist still.

Do you have any friends or just anyone you think everyone in Australia should be listening to?

Someone I'm doing a collaborative track with named MOON BOUNCE, he’s really cool, I'm playing a show with him in February and he’s really really talented, he's done a release on RYAN HEMSWORTH's label now and I think he's getting some more people listening but I'm still surprised how not everyone knows how good he is still

Purple Sneakers featured Moon Bounce in our Artists to watch in 2015 list, #humblebrag

What’re your plans for New Years eve are you staying at the festival?

Yeah I’ll stay here, have a little party, its exciting to be here for the new year and this is my last show of the year, I haven’t called my booking agent but um yeah this is my 124th show this year. I asked my booking agent how many shows I played to look back at the end of the year.

How many shows do you want to play next year?

372. No actually, [laughs] yeah that’s a good number. I don’t know specifically, I'm just happy to be able to travel and play music and every time there's a show where people are all involved and dancing it always feels cool no matter the size.

Thanks for talking man, one more question tho. What's your favourite meme?

I'm trying to think of a recent one or if it even counts but there's this youtube video of this guy, he's like yelling at people who make fun of people wearing fedoras and he's wearing a fedora in the mirror in the bathroom and I don’t even think he's wearing a fedora I think he's wearing some other hat that I don’t care about, its really funny. A trilby perhaps yeah I think it is have you seen it? Its really funny.