For any musician, the studio is a sacred place – an inspirational environment where ideas come into fruition and take flight with wings of their own, after days of hard work and dedication.
What most will tell you, though, is that being on the move and changing studio spaces is not recommended – it can disrupt the creative process, which in turn can lead to delays, and ultimately writer’s block. But not for Sydney’s Bree Tranter, who for her stunning debut album Another Night On Earth had the privilege of recording in a whopping nine studios across Australia – something the young singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist regards as a blessing in disguise.
“It’s not that I was intentionally trying to do that, it just kind of naturally happened,” she says. “I’d have a skeleton of a song and because I’m so blessed with having so many friends around me that are musicians, they’d just offer to help me write my album in their studio, and it was great because at that time I was producing the whole thing on my own. It’s cool that it’s not just me and is a collaborative effort from everyone I’ve met along the way. It opened me up much more musically and I’ve certainly had a lot of fun.”
Another Night On Earth has spawned a new flair in Tranter – a former member of the now-defunct Australian band The Middle East – featuring beautiful electronic production as well as live instrumentation under soulful vocal melodies and flute sections. While it’s scored her rotation on triple j and Double J, Tranter says she never intended for the album to be so electronic-based, but the collaborative efforts at the time just made so much sense.
“It was a bit of a saga I guess. I decided unconsciously I would write and produce all the songs myself, but my housemate who does electronic music would always end up putting a beat and synth to it, and it just kind of worked every time. At that time I knew I didn’t really want to put out electronic music, and it was really all over the place, but I think that was all part of the fun and experimentation.
“I definitely didn’t think it would get picked up by any radio stations because it’s not a radio album at all. I’m not online enough to know how well the album is going or anything, but I’ve been completely surprised from everyone I’ve talked to, including strangers. It’s really been pleasant, and I love that people are accepting it and taking it in.”
Between working extremely hard on her own material, Tranter also dedicates a large amount of her time to touring with Australian golden boy Matt Corby, whom she says was a massive influence on her album and has not only taught her how to mature as a musician, but how to mature personally following a tumultuous few years after the break-up of her former band.
“I love working with Matt, he is really just a brilliant musician,” she says. “Being on the road all the time with him has taught me that it takes a lot of responsibility to be a leader. It’s kind of an interesting journey when you realise that this actually can be your job and you can tour the world and actually have money. I most certainly have changed as a person.”
Tranter will embark on her first headline tour later this month, and is putting a massive emphasis on live instrumentation and trippy visuals from her own archives to connect the audience with her album’s core themes of love, sex and identity.
“There’s going to be a full band lineup, which is exciting, and I’m putting together a live video I’ve created from footage I’ve taken from the last couple of years,” she says. “It’s all pretty personal, but I’ve tripped it out so it kind of gives the audience two things to feel while listening to music. I’m extremely excited.”
[Bree Tranter photo by Bryce Jepson]
Another Night On Earth is out now through Gaga Digi. Bree Tranter appearsThursday November 24 at Oxford Circus, with Alby.
