Long-distance relationships have the extraordinary ability to enhance the emotions involved with love.
They can speed up fate (whether good or bad), foster longing and make you feel more open and alive than you’ve ever felt before. In Dustin Tebbutt’s case, one particular relationship gave him enough inspiration to write a whole album, First Light.
“I didn’t decide to fall in love and I didn’t decide to write music about it. It just was something that happened, and I think that’s kind of always the way,” says the New South Wales singer-songwriter. “That’s always the role music has played in my life – it’s my way of expressing stuff that’s happening to me.”
The album wanders through memories and feelings associated with a nameless partner, from the first moments of ‘real love’ to discovering the best parts of someone’s personality in a relationship, and even sex. While there are lots of vignettes speckled throughout the album, Tebbutt recalls one memory that inspired some of the lyrics in the title track.
“I just remember walking out onto the beach one night, and there was a full moon, and just being out there after having a conversation with my partner at the time, wondering if they were looking at the same thing,” he says. “Because at that point you are often looking at the same view, even if you are in different places. So there’s a nice beauty there when you get that scale bigger.”
Throughout his time writing music, Tebbutt has always been drawn to using metaphors inspired by the natural world and fascinated by their power to bring perspective to human experiences. As with his memory of gazing up at the moon, the nature of this particular relationship drew him to images of outer space. The songwriter in Tebbutt loves that idea of something so vast being beyond our atmosphere and control.
“I’ve always had that relationship with the natural world, I think, and more and more over the years, when I think about it, it seems to be the kind of trigger for me looking at things this way. By taking those bigger timescales, like the formation of mountains or rivers or whatever and applying them to one lifetime, over 70 or 80 years, that’s quite a powerful perspective to bring down to this human level.”
In fact, scale is something that Tebbutt has thought about a lot, recalling his time living in Sydney as quite a shock after growing up on a large property in the country. In rural high school he used to work on large-scale paintings with drop sheets and oil paints, but all of a sudden he simply didn’t have the room for them, and his brain didn’t know how to respond in a concrete jungle.
“What I found really worked for me was polarising. I went and found a little notebook and felt-tipped pen and started doing these very minute, highly detailed little sketchy drawing things, and it was like my perspective had to change. Because I couldn’t see the horizon and didn’t have that space, it was like my brain had to reassimilate and kind of go inside of itself. And once I got through that thing, I didn’t really struggle anymore with the concept of small spaces.”
Writing from a new angle about love was also quite a different experience for Tebbutt. In older songs like ‘The Breach’, he explored coming to terms with a break-up. He explains now that he used to be quite introspective about the meaning of his lyrics. But these days, Tebbutt feels more open to expressing his feelings and memories explicitly. First Light sees him delve into mostly positive experiences with love, and he remembers the relationship that inspired it with fondness.
“I think as a person, I actually really am a pretty massive optimist. I think that music for me tends to reflect a subset of emotions of everything that I feel – I just feel like I can express the more sensitive sentiments and things that are a bit more fragile and vulnerable of that side of myself as a person.”
One of the reasons for Tebbutt’s change in perspective has been growing older. With age comes new tools to deal with romance. Musically, he has also become more confident since his past releases, finding his stride with production and exploring different techniques with his vocals. In the past, Tebbutt has been part of some impressive collaborations, working with artists like The Kite String Tangle, Thelma Plum, and even co-writing ‘Give Me Tonight’ on First Light with Dave Le’aupepe (Gang Of Youths). However, he thinks his next step will be to work alongside more electronic acts, naming RÜFÜS among the artists he would love to join forces with.
In the meantime, Tebbutt is headed for the stage again, touring around Australia to celebrate the release of First Light. While he finds performing to large audiences at festivals like Splendour In The Grass exhilarating, he’s just as excited to be playing on smaller stages like Newtown Social Club this time around. He believes he thrives in the intimacy of a smaller space and creating a shared experience.
“That’s the best thing about playing live, and when you go to a gig as well, there’s this joint connection. It’s not just you and the song, it’s like that person and that person, everyone around you is in the music and the artist is in there and the moment. They’re not just regurgitating a song they know, they’re in there and something else happens sometimes and transcends. You’ve got to chase that thing.”
[Dustin Tebbutt photo by Cybele Malinowski]
First Light byDustin Tebbutt isout now through Eleven; and he playsNewtown Social ClubonThursday August 18 and Friday August 19, with Robbie Miller and Woodes.
