FLETCHER GULL Drops New Single 'CITY IS BUSY' We Talk, Music & Society
Fletcher Gull has returned with city Is Busy' via Snowhill Songs/AWAL. Crafted in isolation ‘City Is Busy’ wallops kaleidoscopic production and rich textures and harmonies buoyed by New Romantic synths and pulsating Gameboy beats reminiscent of MGMT and Empire Of The Sun.
Beckoning disconnected souls, Fletcher Gull was inspired to pen the new track from a chance counter with an old school punk in North Melbourne. The accompanying visuals yearn in wanderlust, capturing the palpable kinetics of urban life.
Fletcher’s new tale blasts his multidimensional, sparkling offbeat pop from the small screen to the multiplex. His mastery of intricate storytelling is shifted into the well-deserved limelight that has already caught the attention of Australia's national radio station triple j, and BBC Introducing and CLASH in the UK.
A gifted wordsmith, Fletcher’s love of language is seen in his passion for literature which has trickled down into his lyricism - finding his name between the covers of his favourite book, Richard Bach’s novella “Jonathan Livingston Seagull”. His rhythms ramble like the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe, with themes venturing into a reverence for nature and ancient rites like Tolkien, with a soundtrack taking cues from the whimsy of indie rock epics The Shins and The Flaming Lips.
His upcoming EP, “Ancient History Shares A Knowing Smile” is a perfect distillation of that quality. While the phrase itself caught Gull’s eye on a t-shirt, it stuck in his mind because it brought a sense of comfort in what was otherwise a deeply troubling time in his life. After wrestling with one of his worst periods of long-term anxiety, Gull found himself hospitalised after an accidental overdose on acid. Everything had changed radically overnight; his world as he knew it had shattered, and this EP was Gull collecting those fragments in an attempt to create something that would catch the light in a whole different way.
'City Is Busy' has a sense of nostalgia for the past specifically the 80’s, which is pre-mainstream internet use, social media, online shopping etc. The song was inspired by an old ex-punk woman you met, is this also a combination of your own experiences?
Rats, you got me. Yeah, I'm a bit of an old jaded punk lady myself. Living in the city for me has always been like one foot on the platform kinda thing, you do it cause you convince yourself you want to go where it might take you, but you also don't want it to take you too far that you lose touch with what grounds you. Same with social media, I do it (pretty terribly mind you) cause everyone says you need to in order to have a music career, but I'm just dreaming of the day I pack up shop and move to a mountain somewhere with no reception. I mean I think technology is amazing and everything, it frees us up from the hardships of nature. But having your chains removed is a big responsibility. I mean a nail gun is a great invention for building houses. But if you don't know how to use it it can do more harm than good. Plus deep down, we love chains.
Your song captures a sense of loneliness and disconnection in a busy city painting a picture of the corporate rat race. This is a common occurrence for many living in a big city. Has this been your experience of cities you have lived in?
Yeah, I've lived in a few cities and they're like bug zappers. Bright and shiny and full of promise. And if you know how to control yourself they can serve you really well, but most people just fly headfirst into the light and fall down.
Could you tell us about this lyric? “The city is busy and everyone’s clinging To a sad reality Working their jobs clutching their money clinging to their sanity fighting till the current takes them.”
Well you know, I think we're creatures of habit, and as much as we like talking about breaking our cycles I think we'd likely follow them off a cliff if there happened to be one handy. But I mean hey, WHAT'S LIFE ALL ABOUT? I sure don't know - maybe habits, traditions, cycles, routine. But I don't think anyone really believes that for themselves. We're all the one in a million right? Problem being, life's a road full of roundabouts. And a circle is a pretty cosy thing. You get to know it fast there are no sharp corners, you never need to adjust your heading. Committing to an exit on the other hand is intimidating, it could be uncomfortable - in fact, who needs it? We can just cruise around our circle and quietly watch our lives go by. But there's an itch that isn't being scratched. When valuing security over adventure we've lost something, but we'll follow sunk costs into the sea. We can cut our losses, diagnose and ameliorate or we can look to something else at whose feet we can place the misfortunes of ourselves and the world. Anything bigger than you will do just fine: the government, society, rich people, foreigners, whatever. As long as there's a mass war to wage with a big intangible evil we can retire all the unresolved battles raging inside ourselves. Helplessness then becomes our only virtue. This isn't a rule, it's just what I notice. To some degree, all learn to interpret the world in such a way to keep us on the mouse wheel. Where it's safe. Putting all our energy into running nowhere until we collapse and get churned out somewhere we never wanted to be. I think that's what the lyric is about for me.
What you sing about in your song is a bleak view of the current reality for most people, but do you think people want to change or are going to change?
For sure, change is the only thing that doesn't change. But some things seem too deeply rooted in human nature to change for maybe even as long as we're around. Read the Tao Te Ching, or The Bible or Plato, and clearly, people have been preoccupied with the same themes for thousands of years: Love, Death, Fear, Jealousy, Synergy, Good and Evil. The foundations persist, but the details are always up for change. Despite the kinda morbid angle of the song, I don't think now is a particularly more dire or crucial time in the scheme of history. My friends like to say that we're living in the penultimate chapter of life as we know it, hanging by a thread under the shadow of impending doom, but if you pay attention people have been that for the entirety of recorded history. So at the very least, I don't think it's worth losing appreciation for just how absolutely good and wonderful the world is. When enough people cry wolf, I go for a stroll in the park. And maybe a wolf will come and tear me to shreds, or maybe not. Things will change, one way or another.
What’s the lyric “They’ll throw us all in prison when we get old” in reference to?
That's something the lady said. She was saying that they (people in power) are always inventing new rules and tightening the margins so they can catch you breaking them and throw you in prison, or until they have so much control that society is effectively already a prison. Something along those lines.
“Won’t be long before I Check on out and hit the deck Join my family and my friends And return to all the stars that heaven blessed Cause we all burn out, in the end, We all burn out in the end. Would you say you are Thanatophobic?
No, I wouldn't say I'm scared of death, but I am a little bit obsessed with it. I mean it's pretty damn profound, isn't it? It's like the event horizon, the point of no return beyond which all the secrets of the world are hidden. Other people dying can be scary - how long are my grandparents going to be around? My dog? Even my siblings have brushed shoulders with death a few times. They are not a guarantee. What would you do? Should you be doing something about it right now that you aren't? Sometimes that gets to me but I'm not sure if that's fear of death as much as fear of loss. The fear of being the one left alive by the dead. Being alone is my real fear.
What is the song about overall, what do you want people to take away from it?
Belief in the human spirit. Inspiration to pat the dog on the street you wouldn't usually pat, to say "Hi" to the person sitting next to you on the bus, to tell your friend how you really feel, burst the stupid bubble wrap everyone drapes themselves in. Feeling threatened by and vulnerable to everyone around you is not a good thing as far as I can see. Life is a risk, sometimes a big risk, take the risk. Sing when you walk down the street and look people in the eye as they pass. The little things are what keep the darkness at bay. Be a hero and overcome your devils and smile. That's not as easy as it sounds, and people that manage it are the true heroes in my world. Not heroes that save the world, but heroes that make the world worth living in.
Your music has been well received by the likes of BBC Introducing and CLASH in the UK and you won 2018’s International Songwriting Competition. What are your goals for your career as an artist?
To be able to travel around the world playing shows and have a bunch of people show up and be really glad I was there. Like when I go to a Sun Kil Moon concert or something. I wanna see myself in the face of the people watching me. That's the highest ordination I could envisage. Wouldn't mind writing a little book too one day.
having had long-term anxiety - where does this stem from and what are your coping mechanisms?
Beats me where that stuff comes from. It's kind of like an octopus that lives in your stomach, hiding in the cracks, and it's tentacles reach out and grab onto things in your life. People, places, times of day, recurring events. It makes those things seem terrifying, but they're not, it's the sneaky god damn octopus. You never see it faces properly. I wouldn't say I'm particularly good at implementing coping strategies but I tell you what, exercise and practising meditation helps. Confronting the octopus is the only long term thing I've found that helps. Like taking a big gulp of air and diving into the dark abyss and trying your hardest to see what it really looks like. Because if you can, maybe you can learn to live with it. We are scared of the unknown (make it known then). I have a romantic penchant for that old maxim that what doesn't kill me makes me stronger. But a lot of people close to me don't share that affinity.
In your bio you mentioned you accidentally overdosed on acid, why did you decide to try this particular drug?
Try (almost) everything is generally my credo. Acid's nuts. A real reset of the head, can really lift you out of your mental grooves and freshen your perspective. Not to mention a 10-hour express train ride with no brakes, with nothing but the universe and your deepest thoughts for company. One of the scariest things I could imagine, so naturally I wanted to try it. Only this time I mistakenly did far more than I ever would dream of taking volitionally. It was a long night of the most terrifying existence I could possibly imagine, followed by 7 or so months of being very worried that peoples facial features were about to fly off their heads at any moment, so it's probably best not to look. And hey, like always, somehow I came out on the other side, stronger and I hope lastingly better for the experience. I don't think we really know what hallucinogens are. All I know is If there's a God and a Devil, I've met them both on that stuff. It's a bridge to somewhere, somewhere crushingly real. But God knows where. I'll certainly never touch the stuff again, I'll tell you what.
What has been your experience during the pandemic?
I've been a pretty lucky man! I ended up back up in Wollongong with all my family and old friends. Taking the time to read a lot and learn how to hunt and forage. I camped around the south coast for a while and my god it's a beautiful place. I found an airport on the beach in Moruya where they'll teach you how to skydive. It's the best, I've been getting some jumps in and meeting some great people. Never been a better time to get out of the city that's for sure.
How do you define success?
Finding love, acting from love, living in love. Harder than it sounds.
What’s the funniest story you have from your time as an artist?
I'm not really a jokester or anything, I'm usually dead serious. But when playing shows in London we frequented this Italian restaurant. They did the best egg pasta, I was smitten. One time I proposed to the waitress and suggested we honeymoon in the kitchen. Other people found it funny. She didn't. You've gotta try though, right. Ya never know.
What’s next in the immediate future, are you doing any socially distanced gigs or streams?
As soon as I can I'd love to play some shows. Planning on doing some online streamed stuff to in the near future.
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Interview by John Burbidge