LANKS INTERVIEW
Melbourne musician LANKS is soaring as he embarks on an Australian wide tour of his debut album ‘twentyseven.’ LANKS blesses us with a sublime fusion of his internal perspective on his own struggles and his relationships with others. LANKS couples his honest lyricism alongside his tranquil, soothing approach to sonics to deliver a diverse and evocative array of tracks on his body of work.
Check out our conversation below!
LB: Firstly, congratulations on your debut album release. Was there a significant difference between creating this body of work versus your past EP’s or is the process and the ways your ideas flourish into music inherently the same?
LANKS: Yes, I think so. It’s much bigger. There’s more pressure you put on yourself to say something, but I relish that. There’s a real desire with your debut album to make it something more than a bunch of songs, but to actually make a body of work with real meaning behind it.
What was the most rewarding part about making a full body of work that is such a big representation of yourself? What was the most challenging aspect?
The challenging aspect is finding the stories you want to tell that are honest and engaging. Making the music side feels so much easier. Making nice melodies and textures and harmonies. But when it comes to putting real words down that people spend time really dissecting, you want to reward them for that. And this is such a huge part of where you connect to your listener.
The album is really cohesive as many of the songs really tie into growth, yet versatile as it describes both individual growth and growth with the people you surround yourself with. How would you describe your development since beginning your LANKS journey?
I’ve learned a lot about people. My work describes my world, and the people around it. There are times where artists make a record and it feels very isolated, their world describes them and nothing else, and that can be a brutally lonely picture they paint.
But I am hopeful in the future, even if just to remind and convince myself that, and the people around me make me who I am and make up my own magical world. I find people very interesting and very inspiring.
You have a captivating and really smooth and fluid collaboration with Ngaiire telling the story of the journey of your own relationship in My Own Mystery. Because the song is heavily based on your experience, were you guiding the direction of the song or did the partnership go beyond her just being a female vocal perspective?
I think Ngaiire did a really amazing job performing on that song. It was an unusual collaboration because I wrote the song and then asked her to sing on it with me, rather than it coming from a collaborative writing process. But she is such an incredible singer and she brought it to life so well. I also showed her Icarus (the song I proposed with) in it’s infant stages when we were recording it, and she was very included and understanding of where my head was at at the time.
Songs like Holla and Bitter Leaf were featured on ‘Viet Rose’, and also on this newest album. What is the significance of these particular songs and how have they remained relevant to you as time has passed and you’ve grown?
I think Viet Rose was such a complete record for me and showed a big maturity leap for my LANKS work. Because those songs in particular felt like that, it felt like their chapter wasn’t over yet and that my debut LP really comprised those stories and sounds. That in effect has made it quite a long chapter for LP1 but I’m glad it was what it was.
The album is multi thematic, and the lyrics provide personal detail and diversity, depicting your encounters with relationships whether it be love, friendship and family as well as self realisation.
Were you apprehensive at all to share any or a particular facet of your life and inner thoughts?
Honestly, I think it’s just ‘close your eyes and hope for the best’. These songs and stories were real to me, and I made songs about things I wanted to speak about. The more I’m going on with this stuff the more I am making songs for me and the people I write directly to. some of them are more like letters to people around me.
Do you think writing them and setting them free gives you peace of mind and helps you confront the hardships you’ve encountered?
I had hoped so. But life is always filled with ups and downs and I am learning that more and more and attempting to come to terms with that. Don’t ever think you’ll run out of things to talk about, everything around you is moving.
The album’s lyrics couple so well with the sonic, production elements of the songs. How important to you/how much thought were you putting into creating the full package and giving listeners an immersive experience that they could connect to?
It’s lovely to hear that kind of response. I wanted to create a world. And as I play lots of instruments and as of the last few years have dived deep into lyric territory I think I am better equipped now than ever to do that. Technique used to hold me back a lot (that journey is never over really) but now it’s been more about working out what I want to say.
You shared a clip from My Own Mystery that didn’t get released because the concept wasn’t executed how you imagined, why do you think it is that you don’t settle unless your vision is being properly captured?
That came about at a busy time and I just didn’t have the bandwidth to put the work in required. I disappointed myself with that one more than anything. But Justin Carrig, the director, really nailed that final sequence that really moved me so I really wanted to find a space for that to be shared. I just want to make art that makes you feel something, so that is the main box that has to be ticked for it to be released.
Another video that you did release however was that for twentyseven. I loved the creativity and idea behind the video and the message it delivers. How did the idea come to fruition?
I’m not entirely sure where it came from but it was a very collaborative process with my friend, director Justin Carrig. He just really developed it and brought it all to life.
It’s taken me some time to really learn how to collaborate well in the video clip side of things, but I feel like we’re getting there.
You’ve recently begun touring for the album, how has it been so far to see your perspective and your inner thoughts resonate so well with people?
It has been amazing. I really can’t explain properly how moving some of the stories I have heard are. I really love people, and aspire to help and heal, in any way I can. So many moving stories of joy and loss. I take it as a huge honour that people would let me into their world like that and I’m glad I gave them a chance to talk about it.
Has there been any song that stands out in terms of how it moves your audience and how people respond?
twentyseven seems to have been a really big one with all the anxious achievement-driven people and their struggles. We all spend a lot of time thinking about these things and don’t always talk about it. So many songs are relationship focused but rarely do they talk about loving yourself and being kind to yourself.
The other one is Icarus. It’s a real tear-jerker (for me as much as anyone else).
LANKS is finishing off his Australian national tour this week, playing in Belgrave, Castlemaine and Melbourne. Tickets can be purchased via:
ARTIST1ON1 INTIATIVE (NEW!)
We would like to thank LANKS for being the first participant of our Artist1on1 Initiative. We have teamed up with Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy Australia (NORO) and LANKS has kindly agreed to support a donation of $100 towards continuing the highly valued work of NORO. Thank you to LANKS for his support and to NORO for their incredible contribution to helping lives of others through music. Be sure to support NORO here!
https://www.noro.org.au/support-us/donate-now
Other links:
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