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| Photo by Nick McKinlay |
I wrote 'Habit'... in a few small pieces, that I put together to make a whole song. The chords came first when I was mucking around with a new guitar pedal I'd bought with some birthday money from my Melbourne friend fam. It is my first pedal and it's an analog carbon copy chorus. I love the dreamy modulation. The rhythm was inspired by one of my favourite Unknown Mortal Orchestra songs. Every songwriting process is different but I do love when a song is made of little clues I've sent myself along the way to get to the end result.
The story behind 'Habit'... is how unknowingly lost I was before finding this wonderful music community upon moving to Melbourne 18 months ago. I really believe my ultimate life started when I got here. The love and support we have for each other is sometimes quite overwhelming and what does one do when feeling overwhelmed? Write a song about it. There's no hidden mysteries in this song, it's straight to the point.
My favourite lyric is... "I was a creature of habit when it came to coming undone." This is the opening line and I just love the way the words "creature" and "coming undone" sound to sing. It's a satisfying line to sing and again, straight to the point from the word go.
It was made... with one of my favourite bridges I've ever heard, let alone wrote. James, my bandmate and co-producer really kicked the chromatic note climb into gear with these wild, untamed synth and guitar lines. That kind of stuff is my favourite thing to produce. It's often a series of small happy accidents that have come about from either twisting various knobs on pedals themselves or finding some crazy plug-in effect. I've listened to the bridge more than the whole song I think. Every time I hear it I imagine a space shuttle pelting towards earth, over-heating, shaking and breaking up into pieces as it enters the atmosphere like it does in the movies. Then when I say "love each and every one of you" at the release end of the bridge, I imagine the shuttle has just plunged into the ocean. One day when I have the budget, I'll make this Interstellar video clip for it.
My main inspiration was... the wonderfully supportive, ever-expanding Melbourne community and how lucky I feel to call them my friends.
It sounds best... when you're watching the band and I play it live and there are friends down front busting the chorus dance moves that you can definitely join in on. (please see Instagram for the video of a bunch of friends and I dancing in sync at cycle velodrome)
Listen to 'Habit' by Merpire:
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