Naarm-based artist Garagee invites us on a journey of existential ponderings in his latest single ‘Firewall (Feat. Jane McArthur)’; a galaxy of twinkly guitar harmonics and delays, paired with McArthur’s warm velvet vocals. It’s the second taste of what’s to come in his upcoming album Garagee III, which will feature more collaborations with artists including The Church’s Steve Kilbey, Lindsay Phillips, Pink Tights, and more.
‘Firewall (Feat. Jane McArthur)’ is mesmerising to listen to, with silky, sparkly and sultry textures that constantly shift and modulate. Sometimes music is simply built to groove to, sometimes it is a storytelling tool, but occasionally you come across a song that feels like a full sensory experience. This is one of those tunes; I’d recommend lying down and closing your eyes to listen, and you could almost picture yourself drifting on a gentle current on a raft in the ocean under the night sky, starlight reflecting off the water’s surface.
This song explores the paradox of increasing technological connectedness and the social alienation that seems to arise alongside it. The music video delves deeper into these concepts, beginning with vintage footage a couple in the industrial revolution era as the demands of daily life seem to pull them away from each other. The footage is overlayed with animated scribbles and lyrics; a particularly powerful image is the scribbles over the eyes of the characters as they interact with machinery and technology instead of each other.
We got to chat with the man behind the Garagee project, Rob McPherson.
Thanks for speaking with us Rob! Your new single ‘Firewall’ Feat. Jane McArthur is out in the world - you’ve created a really beautiful and expansive soundscape as the world for the vocal to live in. With your previous releases being more instrumental focused, what made you want to lean into using more vocals for this song?
Cheers, and thanks for having me!
I was excited to explore collaborating with lyricists and singers whose output and approaches I really respected and admired. Whilst I’m comfy featuring a melodic instrument, it still remains somewhat abstract, and I was keen to have an actual literal premise to guide the arrangements and production. What Jane brought to ‘Firewall’ both lyrically and performance-wise was everything I could have hoped for.
This single is a taste of tour upcoming album Garagee III - will the rest of the album be utilising vocals like this too?
A little over half the album tracks were collaborations with vocalists in addition to Jane, including Steve Kilbey, Lindsay Phillips and Pink Tights, who all brought incredibly thoughtful lyrics to the table, delivered with outstanding performances.
Of course, there will still be traditional, instrumental-style Garagee tracks sprinkled throughout! ;)
You’ve mentioned that each track on the upcoming album has been arranged to compliment the unique qualities of the singers you’ve brought on board. Can you tell us how you know Jane, and why you decided to work together on this track?
I’ve known Jane for over 10years now. I worked with her on a couple of tracks, ‘Up All Night’ and ‘Story Thieves’ from her stunning ‘Ephemeralogica’ album in 2016. The latter, featuring the incredible talents of cellist Melanie Robinson, was particularly fun, where we sampled percussive sketchbook sounds, and I was keen to collaborate again.
Jane’s lyrics are always beautifully constructed and thought provoking, and I do love her unique turn of phrase.
When writing ‘Firewall’, did the instrumentals come first or did the lyrical concept behind the song inspire how you wrote the instrumentals?
A little bit of both… The nucleus of the song was the instrumental tenor guitar part, which I arranged with Jane in mind. Once Jane had contributed her beautiful lyrics and vocal performance, I used them as a jumping off point to guide further arrangement and the sampled, percussive parts.
I love the use of harmonics and delays in the instrumentation & production of this song! There are some really mesmerising tones and sounds - do you produce your songs and play all the instruments yourself?
Thank you! Yes, I do all production and mixing, and play all the instruments myself, though I often get Tim Burnham in to play acoustic drumkit on any tracks that require it.
It’s partly because of this relatively solitary nature of Garagee that I was keen to explore the different possibilities in collaborating with, and featuring singers on the new album.
What are your most essential/favourite bits of gear for creating the Garagee sound?
It’s funny you mention the delays, as about 5 years ago I was fortunate enough to score an old Echoplex EP3 tape delay, which has since become a huge part of the sound. Even when the delay is off, the in built circuitry just gives everything so much warmth and character. Most of the time I’ll plug guitars and synths through it as a first port of call.
‘Firewall’ comes with a black and white music video featuring a couple, old cars, telephones and industrial machinery etc. - where is the footage from?
The footage is taken from an old, 1950’s student film called ‘Have I told you lately that I love you?’, which I found in the online Prelinger archive. It’s a piece that reflects how the director felt modern inventions for the time, like toasters, record players and answering machines were having a negative effect on interpersonal relationships. Given similar feelings around personal devices and AI these days, I wanted to play on the familiarity of these arguments.
The way the animations of scribble over people’s eyes is a really powerful image - can you tell us about the concept behind the animations?
Whilst I wanted to explore societal alienation through convenience, I also wanted to look at the contradictory, isolating nature of the daily grind and it’s role in this. The animations represent a dark mental fog consuming the protagonist through the course of the working day.
So you have your album launch at Mama Chen's in Footscray on Saturday 24th August - will you be playing with a band setup, and will any of your feature vocalists be making an appearance?
I will indeed be playing with a band! I’ve previously played shows solo, with a loop-based setup, so I’m really excited to be able to flesh out these songs with other musicians who enjoy playing these songs as much as I do.
I’m afraid none of the featured singers live in Melbourne, so I’ll be utilizing tracks for the vocals, but I can promise the show, with all it’s visuals and other elements will be something to experience!
Finally, drawing from your experience over your 16 year music career, what’s something you wish someone in the industry had told you when you were starting out?
This is such a great question, and something that could be ruminated on much more extensively….
I have no regrets, but I did find it took me a long time to become comfortable and have confidence in presenting my music.
Always be yourself. You’ll never please everyone, but the people and fans who do dig what you do will connect with the honesty and integrity in your art, and will experience it more deeply.
Stream 'Firewall (Feat. Jane McArthur)'
The Garagee III Album launch will take place at Mama Chen's in Footscray on Saturday 24th August, with a full band and an exciting visual experience to match. Get your ticket here.
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