Who are you when you travel? Separated from familiar people and places life can become a game of survival, and your thoughts and actions strange even to yourself. Lower Spectrum's Ned Buckley has been as determined as any to find answers, losing and discovering himself through constant movement. Last year Buckley spent six months travelling, all the while writing and recording the celebrated album Little Appeal. It was an alternately spacious and clastrophobic exploration of hip hop and electronic styles, synth soundscapes, field recordings and manipulated samples. On returning to Australia Ned did not sit still for long, saying farewell to Melbourne and moving west to Perth. It's been an inspiring shift, and the new Lower Spectrums EP Traces is ready for release. THUMP is pleased to present the first single "Khlever", a multi-layed, textured and richly melodic composition.THUMP: Your album Little Appeal was notably recorded at various locations around the world, reflecting in some ways experiences you had while travelling. Traces arrives after relocating to Perth. How are you settling there? and do you hear in the new music evidence of your experiences moving to a new city?
Lower Spectrum: Perth is noted to be the most remote city on earth and i feel like this partly helped me produce Traces. Bunkering down and focusing solely on music without distractions lead to a really productive work ethic. There is definitely a different pace of living here that i enjoy and relinquish in. I like to think it gives me a broader perspective on things. It's not all mining, highvis and dexies. There is definitely evidence of transposition, perspective and progression that you can hear in my music since relocating. My experiences subconsciously find there way into my music and inject direction.Perth is something of a hub of progressive and electronic music, was the move partly inspired by an interest in connecting with what's happening there?
The music hub in Perth is incredibly vibrant, refreshing and uniquely diverse and my short involvement in it so far has already seen me play shows here with international luminaries like Jon Hopkins, Andy Stott and Colin Stetson. Before moving over though my knowledge of the music scene here was really limited. There are lots of good people doing really good things that are unique and pushing boundaries. But the move for me wasn't entirely inspired by the music scene. It was predominantly to uplift my groundings. On returning from my trip overseas i didn't want to return to routines, same job, same environments etc and so moving to Fremantle, Perth seemed like a good/crazy idea. Being close to an alluring coastline, good friends and new challenges was mostly what inspired me.Following from your album, what were some of the initial ideas or intentions for this release? Is there an idea, or are there various themes around Traces as the title for the EP?
Traces i feel starts off where Little Appeal finishes. To me it's a strong continuation of a kaleidoscopic sound that ebbs and flows through a nocturnal sonic landscape. Drawing on multilayered,
subtle textures to explosive bass laden rhythms that reveal a culmination of unique compositions and absorbing aesthetics. One of my main themes was to try and draw detail into infectious hooks and motifs that i think combine elements of a film score but still remain suitable for the dance floor. My favorite part of the music making process is when your ideas come together and you can visualise in
your head where a song can go. It feels a little bit like you're listening into the future. This was prevalent in the making of Traces. With this body of work i wanted to create music that i could perform in a live setting that was engaging and contagious. My idea in approaching Traces was to basically just push myself in new directions, arrangements, sounds, ideas and techniques. To have an open mind and run with it.What can you tell us about the first single Khlever, and how it evolved?
Khlever came together from a simple crescendo tone that i had made on a Korg Mono/Poly. I found this guy
on GumTree selling his entire studio and snapped up this synth. It is the crux of the song with layers i built around it. Everything seemed to fall into place around it. I tend to find the process of making a song like a collage of colours and shapes that fit together like a puzzle. When you find a perfect equilibrium, elements seem to form naturally and build.Your musical processes are broad ranging, from sampling second hand vinyl digs to using analogue drum machines and acoustic instruments – can you describe a little of how you're approaching music making these days?
Travel, as with Little Appeal, can be a major source of inspiration, but where else do you go, or what do you do currently that best helps trigger ideas for songs? Every song has a different process. I find that i might make 20 loops in a day and they are all shit. But i will come back to them a week later and find that 1 of them might spark another idea and will flow onto a fullblown
arrangement. I try and keep the writing process as varied as possible buying bin records, sampling obscure instruments, experimenting with different synths and recording different environments on
my zoom mic. I think coming back to the idea of having a colourful palette helps you pick and choose your sound and decide where it will go. A major source of inspiration for me are my friends and the people that surround me. A lot of my friends are producers, photographers, filmmakers, architects or artists and their varied styles inspire me to experiment and be good at what i do.Listen to the new Lower Spectrum single "Khlever" hereFollow Lower Spectrum on his continuing travels via Twitter
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Lower Spectrum: Perth is noted to be the most remote city on earth and i feel like this partly helped me produce Traces. Bunkering down and focusing solely on music without distractions lead to a really productive work ethic. There is definitely a different pace of living here that i enjoy and relinquish in. I like to think it gives me a broader perspective on things. It's not all mining, highvis and dexies. There is definitely evidence of transposition, perspective and progression that you can hear in my music since relocating. My experiences subconsciously find there way into my music and inject direction.Perth is something of a hub of progressive and electronic music, was the move partly inspired by an interest in connecting with what's happening there?
The music hub in Perth is incredibly vibrant, refreshing and uniquely diverse and my short involvement in it so far has already seen me play shows here with international luminaries like Jon Hopkins, Andy Stott and Colin Stetson. Before moving over though my knowledge of the music scene here was really limited. There are lots of good people doing really good things that are unique and pushing boundaries. But the move for me wasn't entirely inspired by the music scene. It was predominantly to uplift my groundings. On returning from my trip overseas i didn't want to return to routines, same job, same environments etc and so moving to Fremantle, Perth seemed like a good/crazy idea. Being close to an alluring coastline, good friends and new challenges was mostly what inspired me.
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Traces i feel starts off where Little Appeal finishes. To me it's a strong continuation of a kaleidoscopic sound that ebbs and flows through a nocturnal sonic landscape. Drawing on multilayered,
subtle textures to explosive bass laden rhythms that reveal a culmination of unique compositions and absorbing aesthetics. One of my main themes was to try and draw detail into infectious hooks and motifs that i think combine elements of a film score but still remain suitable for the dance floor. My favorite part of the music making process is when your ideas come together and you can visualise in
your head where a song can go. It feels a little bit like you're listening into the future. This was prevalent in the making of Traces. With this body of work i wanted to create music that i could perform in a live setting that was engaging and contagious. My idea in approaching Traces was to basically just push myself in new directions, arrangements, sounds, ideas and techniques. To have an open mind and run with it.What can you tell us about the first single Khlever, and how it evolved?
Khlever came together from a simple crescendo tone that i had made on a Korg Mono/Poly. I found this guy
on GumTree selling his entire studio and snapped up this synth. It is the crux of the song with layers i built around it. Everything seemed to fall into place around it. I tend to find the process of making a song like a collage of colours and shapes that fit together like a puzzle. When you find a perfect equilibrium, elements seem to form naturally and build.Your musical processes are broad ranging, from sampling second hand vinyl digs to using analogue drum machines and acoustic instruments – can you describe a little of how you're approaching music making these days?
Travel, as with Little Appeal, can be a major source of inspiration, but where else do you go, or what do you do currently that best helps trigger ideas for songs? Every song has a different process. I find that i might make 20 loops in a day and they are all shit. But i will come back to them a week later and find that 1 of them might spark another idea and will flow onto a fullblown
arrangement. I try and keep the writing process as varied as possible buying bin records, sampling obscure instruments, experimenting with different synths and recording different environments on
my zoom mic. I think coming back to the idea of having a colourful palette helps you pick and choose your sound and decide where it will go. A major source of inspiration for me are my friends and the people that surround me. A lot of my friends are producers, photographers, filmmakers, architects or artists and their varied styles inspire me to experiment and be good at what i do.Listen to the new Lower Spectrum single "Khlever" hereFollow Lower Spectrum on his continuing travels via Twitter