GUTHRIE has just released her infectious and elegant latest single, Queenstown. It's a beautiful blend of melodic folk infused with a catchy electronic hook. Hazy Days Music would like to thank Tess Guthrie for taking the time out and having a chat.

 It has been amazing watching your music grow over the years. When did you start writing music and how has your journey been? Signing a distribution deal with Gaga Music must have been exciting! How did that come about?

I grew up on the surf coast of victoria in Torquay. Our property had lots of goats. I used to write songs for them and switched to writing for people at some point haha. I played a lot of open mic nights and had very loving and understanding parents who put up with some very bad songs. Around fourteen, I started playing my own songs at shows rather than covers, and from there, I played in a band in High School that I really enjoyed, and we had a lot of fun. We ended up being a finalist for Triple J's Unearthed High competition and played some festivals along the way.

I ended up taking five years off from music to study Maths and Philosophy, which was random but fun. I got back into playing music in 2018, so it has been a little while. 

This time rather than just playing straight-up folk music, I was keen to involve some electric guitar and implement elements of that sound into my music. Which I previously felt were beyond me. I met some people in Melbourne that were super supportive of my music which helped build my confidence. One person, in particular, is Hannah Campbell, who was a  producer on my first two singles that I put out in 2019. I ended up going on tour and playing a few shows along the east coast after that. I released Fairy Lights, and then the pandemic happened, which gave me time to reevaluate a few things. I felt like I wanted to explore more electronic sounds, which gave me a bit more flexibility with the songs I was making. I decided to go with a new project name GUTHRIE (formally Tess Guthrie) and here we are.

Gaga Music has always been super supportive of my music and have been onboard pretty much straight away. They did the distribution of my first two singles, WUTO and Fairy Lights. And when I showed them Queenstown, they loved the new sound and were super excited to put out that one as well. Not only have they done distribution for my music, but they have been an enormous help in general. Alex and Grant have been amazing at explaining in-depth on how the industry works. They have been super supportive from that perspective for me and, being a self-managed artist at this stage, I think having all the support I can get in terms of understanding how the background things of the industry work has been super beneficial.

Queenstown is one of my favourite releases of the year! Could you share the story behind writing this song?

I wrote this song about a hilarious, slightly tumultuous time in my life. Where I pretty much randomly decided to fly to New Zealand on a couple of hours notice. I was driving to uni one day and was like, screw this, turned the car around and bolted to the airport. I think there are a lot of escapist vibes in terms of travelling to a new place and hoping that will solve all your problems. I wanted to give Queenstown this escapist feeling of everything is beautiful and different but fleeting at the same time. 

Queenstown has had a few iterations. The first version was in 2018. It was acoustic and had some bowed double bass, which I really liked.

In 2020, I started playing with more electron production stuff. I was messing around with random amps and effects on the bowed double bass, and all of a sudden sounded like this different beast. I liked that it sounded kind of weird and made it feel like it was going to some kind of dreamland. A little bit different from everyday life. 
I wasn’t sure if I would release this as a single, but after sharing it with Sophie Payten (Gordi) and hearing her excitement towards the song and her being like, we need to produce this, it made me re-excited about Queenstown. Sophie inspired me to put more time into it. Her production on it is gorgeous and I am very stoked that I got to work with her.

Did Covid/Lockdown play a positive or negitive role in the making of Queenstown?

Covid played a big part, and in some ways, Queenstown might not have happened if it wasn’t for Covid. I did The Push Mentorship Program last year, and mostly decided to apply because I couldn't go on tour. I wanted to continue to upskill and improve my knowledge in the music industry, use 2020 to keep connecting with other artists and people in the industry. The Push program is incredible for that. Aarti Desai, who runs The Push, is amazing! And I wouldn't have had Shopie Payten as a mentor if it wasn't for The Push. If we had not met, I don't think the song would have been what it is now.  

But also in that time, it enabled me the time and space to explore that world-building aspect of music. Which I hadn't given myself persimmon to do to the extent in the past.

Queenstown is amazing! I can’t talk highly enough about this single, how have you found the response?

It feels pretty good so far. Some good reviews on Unearthed are really nice and helpful, it’s been played on some different shows on Triple J and Unearthed Radio, plus it has been featured on some great local playlists. The AU Review and Music Victoria have shared it which is pretty exciting. The thing that gives me the warm fuzzy feelings the most though is the reception from the local community and my songwriter buddies. Seeing them sharing it and getting behind it. That is probably the thing that makes me the most excited. Pilerats premiered it, and that is a goal I have had for a long time. That felt awesome and great to accomplish that goal. 

There is something really special about local people who love music publications, like this one! And others, people who are really keen to find new music that they really like.

I love the new direction you have taken with your music. What have some of your key influences been?

I feel like I've listened to my primary influences for a long time. But only recently I feel like I have figured out a way to start bridging the distance between my folk writing and artists' sounds such as James Blake. The things I love about electronic and alternative music are the different textures you can make and layer on, and just splash them in there, and change the sound completely. I have always enjoyed exploring that.

The obvious ones are James Blake, Bon Iver and BANKS. But I’m in love with this band Son Lux, they have more organic elements in their music. Rafiq Bhatia, who plays in Son Lux, has some really interesting organic and inorganic sound combinations that I really like. Also, Phoebe Bridges' new album destroyed me, like every other folk musician I think. How dare she release that during that time haha. And obviously Gordi, I have been listening to a lot in 2020. 

Do you have any shows coming up? Have you had much opportunity to practice with your band since the lockdown has eased?

I'd love to play more shows and book some festivals this year. I’ve really missed that. At the moment, I've been a little too scared to book anything, in case they get cancelled. I’m just easing my way out of lockdown, but I am keen to play with the band and getting back into it. I’ll definitely update my socials as soon as it happens. I have some dreams of setting up a couple of small outside shows in some random places, but we will see if that happens. 

Only recently have we had the chance to rehearse as a band. I think we only managed to get together once in 2020, after all the shows and everything getting cancelled. Some of our band members were stuck interstate and all that. There were all kinds of things like that happening. It was just a pretty active group chat for a while rather than a band, haha. They were all very supportive from afar. I could still send them samples of the new music I was working on. We tried to do some zoom co-writing sessions, just continually hanging out as much as we could. But yeah, only recently have we all been able to practice in the same room again.

We have just announced two shows supporting Timothy Wolf at the Northcote Social Club on the 5th and 6th of May. Ticket info here.

Do you plan to release any more music in 2021?

I have a few songs that were developed last year. There was a lot of random producing that happened between friends. Spending lockdown sending samples and stems back and forth, I'm not sure what's going to happen with them though haha. What I’m really excited about is recording an EP, which we will hopefully be making in a few months (fingers crossed) if it’s all ready to go.

Stay up to date with GUTHRIE on Facebook, Instagram and Spotify.

Posted on the 26th of March by Jake Taylor.