Image via Jenaya Okpalanze //
With two EPs under his belt, KESMAR is gearing up to drop his debut album, Always Chasing Rainbows tomorrow, and we’ve been given an exclusive premiere of the 8-track release.
The Australian songwriter and producer, real name Nathan Hawes, has been steadily honing his craft for the last few years, but Always Chasing Rainbows marks his most accomplished release to date, having delved deeper than ever before into his production craft and songwriting process, anchored by his love of all things analog.
Drawing on the soft-hued sounds of the 1970s, listening to Always Chasing Rainbows is like taking an afternoon walk through a garden while on mushrooms (birds singing, sun glistening, nearby cows munching). Bursting with warm analog sounds, buttery guitar riffs and melt-in-your-ear choruses, KESMAR paints with a palette of golden hues across eight breezy tracks, where every song could be the soundtrack to a movie montage where the protagonist finally works *it* all out.
Following on from the release of his second EP Forever Holiday in 2021, KESMAR originally planned to once again record the album with producer Tobias Priddle (who he credits with teaching him how to put the “pieces of the puzzle” together when it comes to engineering). But when lockdown struck, he decided to take matters into his own hands.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ups-tRLKz1s
“I’d stay up all night and read interviews of how classic albums were recorded, and then I’d take those ideas into the studio,” KESMAR recalls. “I started getting closer to the sound that I’d heard in my head all these years.”
For KESMAR, an analog approach was paramount, enabling him to explore the sonic palette of those records from the past in a modern context, crafting an ultimately timeless sound. Recording to tape is an almost daily practice for the songwriter, who finds solace in the process, where (unlike recording digitally) imperfections cannot be easily erased and, as a consequence, each take becomes special in its own way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBiefz01DV8&t=1s&ab_channel=KESMAR
“It’s a constant cycle — an incredibly simple way of recording that took me many months to learn — but I love the performance element of recording to tape,” KESMAR describes. “As I’m recording and playing all of the instruments myself, the tape machine is like a second person making me commit to my own ideas.”
For KESMAR, this process of constant refining is what fuels his love of music – and what Always Chasing Rainbows is really all about.
“It’s about that feeling of being constantly dissatisfied, in a good way,” he explains. “Artists are always chasing something else, and for me it’s that song that captures a feeling that I hope to have forever.”
But KESMAR doesn’t see this dissatisfaction as a bad thing, rather a constant journey of learning and evolution. The question of ‘what’s next?’ holds endless potential for the songwriter, for whom there’s always the promise of another song, another rainbow just around the bend.
Always Chasing Rainbows is out tomorrow via Nettwerk, grab your copy here.