Wonderer is the debut album from Sunbeam Sound Machine, aka dream-pop multi-instrumentalist Nick Sowersby.
A follow up to his double EP release last year, this entire record was written, recoded and produced in his Collingwood home. Nick created Wonderer with the help from Stu Mackenzie (King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard) who mixed the LP and Melbourne based producer, Andrei Eremin (Chet Faker, Oscar Key Sung, Banoffee) who was given mastering duties.
In celebration of Wonderer, Nick has given us a track by track run down on the making of the stunning release.
Life On Earth (Future Head)
“I made this song while I was trying to hide from the heat in my garage on a 40 degree day. I made the loop and just started singing absent-mindedly over the top of it, but what I was singing actually ended up setting the tone for the rest of the album. It’s about wondering how to live a good life and be a good person.”
Wandering, I
“Kind of a continuation of the first song, wondering how much time you should devote to something if it might come at the expense of something else, and if you’re doing the right thing in general. I considered leaving this song off the album until Stu mixed it. He made it sound a lot wider and more colourful.”
Real Life
“This song and the songs either side of it are really heavily influenced by a Peanut Butter Wolf EP called Peanut Butter Breaks, which is all instrumental hip-hop beats from the early ‘90s. He layers drums over the top of each other in a really cool way and I was experimenting with that. It’s an interesting production technique and an excellent way to cover up my very ordinary drumming skills.”
In Your Arms
“Enough existential pondering, it’s time for a love song.”
Goodbye Vrations
“This came about when I accidentally played the vocal loop from the end of ‘Fever Dream’ in slo-mo. It sounded very mournful, a bit like a wounded animal, so I decided to keep it.”
Fever Dream
“I thought it’d be cool to name a song ‘Fever Dream’, but according to Wikipedia so did Steve Vai, so now I don’t know what to think.”
Daibutsu
“This song marks a more upbeat change in the album, lyrically speaking. A lot of the background stuff was recorded on my phone when my girlfriend and I went to see the Daibutsu statue in Nara, Japan. You can hear an especially passionate tour guide in the middle bit. It’s about having a very positive outlook on life, and wishing everybody could see things the same way.”
Zeds
An ode to the benefits of a good night’s sleep.”
Infinity + 1
“I wanted to write the most positive song I could for some people who weren’t having such a positive time. Similar to Daibutsu, just wishing people could share your perspective.”
Somehow
“This whole song pretty much came together in a couple of hours one night when I was meant to be doing something else. I accidentally made it sound way more blown-out than I intended, but that became my favourite thing about it.”
A Brief Attempt At Explaining The Sky
“This is from a tape I’d recorded on a cassette player I have of me and my friend Lochy (who plays drums in Sunbeam live) mucking around on a couple of keyboards while I sang some nonsense. The other sounds are some experiments I’d been doing with that same tape, looping sounds and changing the pitch and stuff. The “WOOP!” is from a nice reverb-y tunnel I rode my bike through one time.”
Autumnal
“This song looks back at the rest of the album and says ‘Hey, relax.’”
Sailing Away
“This song doesn’t take the previous song’s advice. It’s about looking at death in a positive way, and how we take all of the good things in our life with us when we go.”
Upcoming Show Dates
TUESDAY DECEMBER 02
THE CORNER HOTEL, MELBOURNE
Supporting The Drums (USA)
SATURDAY DECEMBER 06
HUGS & KISSES, MELBOURNE
w/ Methyl Ethel & Good Morning
FRIDAY DECEMBER 12
THE BANDROOM (previously FBi SOCIAL), SYDNEY
w/ Methyl Ethel & Yon Yonson
SATURDAY DECEMBER 13
SYDNEY PSYCH FEST, THE FACTORY THEATRE
FRIDAY JANUARY 09
BLACK BEAR LODGE, BRISBANE
w/ Special Guests TBA
For tickets and info, visit Sunbeam Sound Machine’s Facebook page.
