Streten is speaking from the Gold Coast, while being chauffeured from airport to the site of the first Australian instalment of Big Day Out 2014. He sounds calm and collected, having performed many a crowd magnet slot at festivals across the country since his barnstorming Splendour 2012 appearance. Even when discussing the Faustian implications of his next creative step, Harley regales a sense of control.
“Right now, I’ll write something and come to this fork in the road, where I can either take path A – the path I would have taken four years ago when I was just writing in my bedroom – or path B. Path B means a lot more people will hear it, it’s a song that radio, triple j will play, I’ve kind of figured it out. So I have a great idea, then I have to decide whether to take path A where not many people will hear it, or path B where ten times the amount of people will hear it and make Flume that much bigger. The same song can be taken in two different places. It’s a bit dodge, I’ve never had that before where I’ve questioned it when it’s got to that point. But I’m trying to stick with plan A as much as possible.”
The mixture of expectation, both perceived and from within the self, along with the freedom of success, provides a curious juncture for Streten. “I wouldn’t call it a burden. It’s more of a pressure to perform, basically. At the same time, it’s cool now, I’ve kind of got that freedom. My whole thing about this was to make enough money to live comfortably. Now I’m at that point where I can just write music. If I’m happy with the second album, then I’m happy with it. If it’s not as commercially viable as the first album then that’s cool, I’m not relying on it for money in the sense I’ve got enough money from the first one that I can just chill and write whatever.”
Even with the self-titled debut album standing as a definitive success, its longevity compounded with an extensive reissue replete with a vocal-laden reworked mixtape, Harley feels no need to coast on his laurels.
“Essentially it’s good to have a bunch of stuff under the hood that you’re happy with. Right now I don’t have a whole lot because I’ve been touring so much. What I’ll be doing on Wednesday is having some friends around to the studio – some people on the Big Day Out lineup, actually – and what we’re gonna do is this thing called ‘producer games’. It’s a great way of coming up with ideas, we’ll all sit down and say, ‘Right, we’ve got an hour to write a song’, then we’ll show each other our ideas. It’s a good technique I’ve started to use, to get the brain working.”
As well as planning to brainstorm with fellow Big Day Out artists, Harley spent some time in the studio at the beginning of 2014 with dubstep icon Skrillex. “It ended up where I gave him some What So Not stuff, then he gave me stuff he was working on. Then we’d go into our own worlds, then come back with everything flipped and changed. We pretty much just remixed each other’s stuff.”
The past year has seen that certain focus on the collaboration side of things, most notably with What So Not and the recent three-track Drop The Game EP from Flume and Chet Faker. As Harley states, these are still extracurricular outlets to that of Flume.
“They’re definitely on the side. The Chet Faker thing is just a fun thing that happens when it happens, there’s no quota saying we need to put out this much music this year. Then What So Not is close to me, I want to put out a certain amount of music with that. I kind of want this year to be the year of What So Not – I’ll be pushing it pretty hard. We’ll be taking that over to the US and seeing if we can expand it.”
A collaboration with one of the biggest crossover success stories of recent times, New Zealand pop ruler Lorde, was hinted at over Twitter, teasing the prospect of “bangerzzz” on the horizon. “We’re always chatting on email,” Harley reveals. “If I write something I’ll shoot it over, and vice-versa. We’ve got a few bits and pieces, and there’s totally the possibility of something happening in the future.”
As for long-term aspirations, Harley is resolute in his commitment to honing his craft, aiming for behind the scenes handiwork away from the spotlight.
“I’d like to do some ghost production. I’m holding off until later down the track when Flume is super-established, a couple of albums in,” he muses. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, but I feel like I have to make most of the opportunities right now. No specific names, but in general I wanna be the guy that someone like Drake will call up and say, ‘I’ve got this beat that’s not quite there’, then I’d spend a day or two on it, send it back, collect royalties. That would be sweet. I would dabble in that now if offered, but I wouldn’t want to go all out until another five years, once the Flume thing is super-established. I guess I’m building a portfolio of work now, so when I do wanna do it, I can smash it.”
Anticipation will no doubt be riding high for Flume’s second full-length release, with Harley readying to ease into writing and production, laying out the groundwork in his mind.
“I haven’t done much, but what I can tell you is that there’ll be more live instrumentation. Mainly strings, really. I love strings, and now I have the freedom to record orchestras and that kind of thing. There’ll definitely be that in there, but still super electronic. But that’s kind of it thus far. It would be nice to have it by the end of the year, but I don’t think that’s realistic. There are times when creativity is high, there are times when it’s low. I could have two months where I’m super creative and smash out 12 tracks, or maybe I won’t. I’ve left it completely open, rather than have a set time,” he reasons. “I want to do it when it’s right, not rush it.”
Flume’s live show has proved to be a resounding success, stepping up mid-2013 with the Infinity Prism lighting fixture in sizable sold-out appearances. Airing a strain of malcontent, Harley feels the need to push things further in the live setting for the next LP.
“I’m not happy with the performance side of things. It works, it’s easy for me, but I’d like to take it somewhere else. I’m not quite sure where, exactly. I’d like to have other people onstage with me. I know that’s a logistics nightmare in terms of adding bits and pieces, but I want to write this next album and make the call on what the live side of things would be. But it will be different to what I’m doing today. Something like the ARIAs performance wouldn’t be feasible, I couldn’t bring that around North America. There’s not going to be strings in every track, it’s a bit of a theme I’ve been buzzing on lately. A drummer would be really cool, something like SBTRKT has, his setup is pretty sweet.”
BY LACHLAN KANONIUK
