“It was awesome,” says Sowersby of his time in Japan. “I went once last year and once the year before. I got some cheap Jetstar flights both times, so went again,” he laughs. “That song’s got all these little sound bites in the background that I was recording on my phone. I went with my girlfriend and we were walking around this area near a big statue called the Daibutsu, so I just decided to call the song that.”
Sowersby says he’s interested in spirituality, although he’s not a religious person or a particularly spiritual person: “I always like reading different theories on life and the world. I like hearing about people’s different philosophies.”
He found himself moved by how helpful the Japanese were to tourists: “I met a lot of people who just really wanted to help, which is a really beautiful thing to see people doing. Not that it doesn’t happen here, but they go above and beyond.
“I really want to go to Japan to play music. I’d love to go there with the band. I heard the audiences there are pretty crazy.”
Sunbeam Sound Machine’s debut album, Wonderer, opens with Life on Earth – a track Sowersby has described as being about wondering how to live a good life and be a good person. That’s a pretty deep theme, did he find any answers? “Mainly just questions,” he laughs. “The first half of the album is all these sorts of questions, while the second half is more positive… the only way of finding out is by living your life.”
The album’s second track – Wandering, I – is about devoting yourself to something at the expense of something else and wondering whether you’re doing the right thing. The answer to that query, Sowersby surmises, is “just happiness… if it’s something that makes you happy, then it’s the right thing to be devoting yourself to.
“It was probably only since my late teens that I really felt that [making music] was what I wanted to do more than anything else. It’s only been in the last few years that it’s risen to the top of what I want to do. Elliott Smith made me really want to write my own songs. Bloc Party really made want to write my own music – I was really into them when I was about 15. I try to listen to as many different types of music as I can.”
Wonderer is full of shimmering, intricate melodies; hazy soundscapes and hypnotising rhythms. The album was written and recorded in Sowersby’s Collingwood home; mixed by Stu Mackenzie (King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard) and mastered by Andrei Eremin (Chet Faker, Oscar Key Sung, Banoffee).
“I write and record at the same time,” Sowersby explains. “I come up with an idea for some chords and melody and then try and expand on it from there, so usually the process of writing is the same as the process of recording. I put all the different bits together as I go along. With the album, I tried to demo things a bit more and have everything more planned out before I recorded, which happened with a few songs, but some of them were little experiments that I ended up expanding into songs.
“I think recording and creating new music is the thing I love the most, more than anything else that I do, even non-musically,” says Sowersby. “Having said that, I really do like playing live and I’m beginning to enjoy it more and more… because for whoever’s watching, if you can see that the band’s really enjoying it, then it automatically makes for a good show. Having some improvised bits in there means that you can create something new but live in front of people sometimes, so I’m trying to get more of that into the set. I’ve been playing music with the drummer for about ten years now, since early high school. They’re all really good friends of mine who are also good musicians.”
Sunbeam Sound Machine have a few festivals and support shows lined up and hope to play more headline shows in a few months. Sowersby’s enthusiasm for great local music is palpable and cites Good Morning, Dorsal Fins; I, A Man and Foreign/National as some of his favourite local bands. But the international acts at Laneway Festival also had him enthused.
“I love Flying Lotus,” says Sowersby. “His latest album has been blowing my mind. There’s no else really like him. But he’s playing at the same time as St. Vincent and I’ve been really keen to see St. Vincent for ages, so she might win out because I saw Flying Lotus at Golden Plains last year. It’s a good choice to have – if I have to choose between those two, I think I’m doing all right.”
BY CHRISTINE LAN
