Image via Marguerite Lorraine //
We’ve all been there…
If you’re a proper fan of the Sydney music scene, odds are you’ve had ILUKA soundtrack one of your nights out (or in). The Blue Mountains singer-songwriter has been dropping silky sonic offerings for a little while now, past tunes like ‘A Beautiful Undone,’ ‘Blue Jean Baby’ and ‘Fall Apart Again’ resonating with the masses through their intricate blends of warm soulfulness with stardust-infused pop.
Her latest single ‘Mess’ sees the lyrical sunflower reminisce on love, heartbreak, destruction (basically all the shit you go through in your early 20s) but through this beautifully nostalgic lens of bright pinks and rosy reds. And she’s got some pretty mega collaborators along for the ride, recruiting long time pals Lime Cordiale for a tender duet that hits hard and lingers long. It’s a pretty lush single, and it’s no surprises it’s been resonating with fans across the country since its release.
We caught up with ILUKA over Zoom to pick her brain on the new tune, go all the way in on nostalgia and get the deets for her show at the Vanguard tomorrow (last couple of tickets here).
Check it below.
Congrats on ‘Mess’! How are you feeling now that it’s been out there for a little while? And how has your relationship with it changed since you dropped it?
The whole lead up into making and recording it was this little secret that I and the Lime guys had. I think it was because I’ve known them for so long and we were kind of telling a little bit of our story, especially Louie and I. We spent a lot of time living really close to each other and a lot of specific images in the song are from life experiences that we had growing up together. And so, it felt like it was this little secret being announced, which was so exciting, just to finally put it out in the world. I remember when it was first premiered, I was driving in my car and it was on triple j, it felt quite emotional hearing it played for the first time.
And I think because it was, not personal in terms of it’s not a singer-songwriter track, but personal in the sense that it was a part of a story that I was telling with the guys, it was really cool. And since then, it’s just been awesome. The reception to it has been really exciting, and people are obviously connecting to it, which is the most important thing. I feel like when you truthfully tell your story, it becomes something that’s more relatable to other people. It’s what you want as a songwriter.
Just going off how the images in the song are quite personal and deep, I’m sure there’s always a bit of anxiety when opening up and putting it out for everyone to see. Was the positive response to the track reaffirming in some way?
Often the scarier it is for you as an artist putting a song out, the better it is. I find the more it connects with people is when it’s scary, because you’ve found something within yourself that feels really personal. You’re saying something that’s quite real in a song and it’s when you go to those places that people on the outside are able to relate to it. I think definitely in the song, even though it’s kind of playful and fun, that I felt like there was that element of having to dig and go back to that really beautiful, innocent, often unhinged time to kind of bring back the story that ended up becoming the lyrics.
The tune really does this cool portrayal of nostalgia that is equal parts romanticisised and brutal. How do you see nostalgia? How does it shape you as a person and an artist?
Ooh, that’s interesting. In general, it has to be a part of who you are and I’m quite a nostalgic person, probably too much actually [laughs]. So I feel most at home when I’m listening to old music, and I’m often nostalgic for times I didn’t even have, where I wasn’t even there. I think it’s this longing that I have, but I’m not quite sure where it comes from and it makes me quite a restless person. I think what I’m trying to say is, nostalgia has to be a part of who you are and that is what I’m inspired by, that feeling of something that’s passed. Because I guess nostalgia in the end is just a time that’s been right?
And it can be quite broad. I’m always reflecting on times that have been. I guess in general, that’s what a songwriter does as well, it’s looking back on a time to take from that. I know Patti Smith talks about this a lot. It’s going back into that moment and taking all the juice out of it and bringing it back into the present and into a soul or creation. I feel like that is what songwriting is in general, but the nostalgia thing, that has to be a part of who you are. And I think I’m a very nostalgic person. For better or for worse [laughs].
Is that longing you’re describing more so for times that have gone by or times that haven’t passed? Or is there a deeper existential kind of longing?
I think both parts of the longings. So looking back at times gone by, I have to say that I am someone that I don’t know, I try to live the best at being present and that kind of thing. But I think maybe the longing is deeper. I would say the existential thing is longing for something more, not necessarily physically, but more like, ‘what else could there be?’ And that’s often caused me to be quite a restless person. Then I always have to be on the fringe of something new for myself. Whether it’s something I’m writing or going to places and traveling a lot. Just constantly evolving and learning.
I think that’s how I trouble my deep longing, because I have a tendency to be overly restless if I don’t channel that somewhere. And that’s why I love writing songs and I love always pushing myself and having to be on the fringe of something within myself or doing something that’s a little bit challenging.
I guess overall, I think it is a deeper longing, I don’t know if it has to do with my upbringing or something way bigger in a past life. I think in general as a creative, if you don’t have that longing, you often don’t have that desire to want to keep evolving and pushing boundaries. So I think it is a necessary part of being a creative.
You’ve got this lyric ‘It’s Saturday night/ I’m wondering, where’s my mind/ Would say “Goodbye” a hundred times.’ You thought that I was doing fine?’ I feel like that lyric comes from a very specific place. Did you conceptualise it on one of those Saturday nights in one of those specific moments? Or did it come after?
That was definitely reflecting back on a very specific moment for me. Everyone’s been there. Being in a moment where you’re really low and it could be on the bathroom floor when you get back from a night out and you’re like, “What the fuck am I doing here?” And you’re missing someone and those are often the moments when you do miss someone the most, just in those moments of thinking “what am I doing here? I’m a complete mess.” It was definitely looking back at quite a specific time for me when I was missing someone and missing that time that I sing about in the verses, maybe a more innocent time. That was definitely a reflection.
You’ve also got Lime Cordiale on the track which is sick. I read that you sent them early voice notes for the track pretty fast. I imagine for most musos showing songs like that in their early state must be quite daunting. Is it because you and the Lime boys are just so close that that sort of anxiousness isn’t there?
I totally hear you. I don’t know if I would send a voice memo to somebody I didn’t know, or some who didn’t know me. When you’re in a very early stage of writing, the other person’s got to be very open to the possibilities of where it’s going to go. It was very much because I sent it originally to Louie who I’m quite close with and we both know how each other writes, so I didn’t feel so exposed with him hearing that initial idea.
And I guess I wanted to get his immediate feedback of if it was something he or either of them could see us doing together. I had to send it through, it’s definitely about feeling comfortable with someone and them knowing you and knowing how you write to be able to do that.
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I saw you say in an interview that when you were living in a warehouse in those early days you’d always have artists over and everyone would be drawing on the walls. Was the video at all a nod to that? Looking at those innocent days through a nostalgic sort of lens?
That’s really beautiful. I love that you picked up on that.
Am I right in any sense?
Kind of, but you almost took it to a deeper level than I even realized it was, which is really cool. Basically the visual, and I’m quite a visual person, like when I write and hear music, I see colours and visuals. I don’t physically see the colors so to say, but I like imagine the colors.
So I guess that song, when you’re writing about a particular time, then it’s going to be imbued with that kind of feeling and image. I always saw it as very bold colors, like Wes Anderson in my style. It’s kind of quirky and weird and fun. I always had that in my mind. And then when it came to actually making a music video happen, basically my best friend had just moved into this converted church in the Blue Mountains. And I was walking around when I visited her and I said to her “I have to shoot my music video here” within the first minute that I was there.
So that’s how that came about. And the warehouse that I used to live in with everyone painting on the walls was definitely that image as well. So yeah, maybe unconsciously that is what happened [laughs]
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Going back to yours and Lime’s history, you guys really came up together. Do you have a favourite memory from those early days? And if a young Illuka and Lime listened to ‘Mess’ and watched that video, how do you think they’d react?
Oh, that’s such a cool question! I remember a specific memory sitting at their place, when they used to live up the road from me in Enmore. I used to go and hang out at their place a lot. I remember we were all sitting around and someone had a guitar and we were just jamming together.
I remember that night having this really big chat about music and what we wanted to do. I mean we were writing our own songs, but we wanted to really focus on that and play these big shows. And I think we were fairly stoned at the time, so we were talking about just crazy things we wanted to do [laughs].
And that was probably the first time we’d all sat together and not quite written a song, but we were coming up with ideas. Louie was sitting there with his note pad writing stuff down. And that would have been a cool moment for us three then to look at ‘Mess’ and look at the music video, especially with where they are now. It’s so cool to see them playing all these massive shows. I just remember that moment and feeling this really beautiful, innocent feeling, almost like being on the verge of something and just really committing to the whole music thing. So yeah. I’d probably say that.
You’ve got a pretty sick show coming up at the Vanguard. How are you feeling for it? And How do you think ‘Mess’ is going to translate live as well as your other tunes on the set list?
The Vanguard on the 19th! It’s interesting, I basically have a whole new set list now. Long story short, I was in America just before COVID hit doing all this writing and I’m in the midst now of writing and recording it all. And so it’s a whole new set list. And because we couldn’t play shows during 2020, I obviously didn’t play. So I’ve only done all of these songs this last year. So I’m still very much getting used to it.
And it’s not a super different sound, but I think it’s an evolved sound maybe from where I was. I’m still figuring it out. And I mean, the first show we did with this bunch of songs felt really good and it was quite intimate. The band is amazing and there’s a whole array of big joyous kind of epic-sounding songs, like ‘Mess’ and then there’s a few kind of piano ballads that are quite intimate. Hopefully there’ll be an array of feeling. I think it’ll be cool.
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What’s on the cards for the rest of the year?
There’s a few cool things. I’ve got an album coming out soon, which is huge for me, because I’ve never released one. Just to do a big body of work is way more scarier than I thought it would be. But it’s so rewarding, in terms of the process and all of that. So that’s exciting. I’m also supporting a certain band on tour later in the year, but more news on that soon!
But yeah, we’ll be playing some massive shows, which should be amazing. Just releasing more music and touring really. And hopefully getting back to America as well, because I’m working with an American producer over there, so I’m hoping to get back over when things are a little less crazy over there!
ILUKA’s new single ‘Mess’ is out now. You can buy/ stream it here. Be sure to cop tickets to her show at the Vanguard on Saturday here.
