You wrote a demo for your latest track ‘Sparse’ on a trip to Iceland. Tell us about that trip – how did that experience overseas shape the nature of the track? Did it vary drastically to the way you write songs when at home?
I instantly fell in love with Iceland – I went over with my girlfriend and we hired a van and drove around for a few weeks in winter. I felt super inspired by the sweeping epic landscapes but also how bare it all felt. I wrote the lyrics first for ‘Sparse’, which I don’t normally do.
How do you track your ideas when traveling? Do you bring gear along for the ride with you, or just use your laptop/phone as a demoing tool?
Depends on how long I’ll be away for and where I’m going but generally I just use my phone when I’m on the go – voice memos for ideas/melodies and notes for lyrics. If I end up taking my laptop I’ll use that or sometimes I’ll take a guitar and write on that – but most of the time if I’m on the go I just want to get ideas down as quick as possible and then flesh everything out later on.
You initially come from Dunsborough in WA, which is a quite a beautiful part of Australia in itself. How do these natural landscapes inspire your music or the way you create music? How do you fare when making music in metropolitan areas?
I’m really lucky to be able to still live in Dunsborough – although I spend a lot of time in Perth for music. I think being surrounded by nature and landscapes always inspires me to write more. I find I’ll get more inspiration than being in a metropolitan area trying to force myself to write – especially lyrically.
Can you describe your typical recording process? Do you tend to write with an instrument or hand or primarily in the box with software?
It really depends on how I’m feeling, but at the moment I’ve been producing demos and then kind of going back and toplining over them and shaping them. Or sometimes I’ll do it as I go. I grew up playing guitar so I like to write on that too.
Can you run us through the gear or software you use? Is there any key piece of equipment that’s absolutely crucial to your sound?
I use Ableton on my laptop – it’s all software/VST stuff at the moment except for guitars. I generally go into the studio to be able to use better gear. We used a Jupiter-4 a lot in the EP which I love.
Tell us a little bit about what’s coming up next for you. What can we expect to see from you over the next six months?
I’ll be releasing another single within the next month and then the full EP will drop soon after that, which I’m really excited for – it’s been a while in the making! Post EP release – I’ve been doing a lot of writing recently so there might be some more stuff out in that timeframe.
Brayden Sibbald’s EP We Can Only Move Forward is out on Friday June 12.
