Australian music is having a bit of a moment right now, producing fresh sounds and compelling personalities at an alarming rate. This new crop, raised by shuffled iPods and music streaming services is aggressively genre-blind and typically unafraid of swinging for the fences with a devastating pop hook.
Which brings us to Melbourne dream-pop artist Stax Osset. Studying as an anthropologist by day, she’s managed to keep her gaze trained on both the Melbourne music scene (she shares our excitement), and other on the broader global scene.
She brings with her a sack of extra-terrestrial and philosophical themes, but the singer-producer keeps the video for single ‘Symmetry’ decidedly terrestrial – it’s shot around ACCLAIM’s home town of Melbourne, in fact. Be amongst the first to see it, right here.
We also had quick chat with Stax Osset, which you can read below.
Who are you?
I’m Stax Osset and I’m an electronic producer and vocalist.
Where are you from?
I live in Melbourne but I was born on a farm in the middle of nowhere. I was pretty isolated from the world for a long time there.
What is unique about your local music scene?
I’ve got to say I’m pretty in love with the Melbourne music scene. I think what I like most is the general atmosphere of creativity. I feel like everyone you meet has something cool going on and everyone’s pretty happy to share. It’s good vibes to be part of.
Describe your sound in three words. Go!
Alien / dream / pop.
What makes you unique as an artist?
I think it’s just the combination of sounds. It’s like the same ingredients but a new recipe. I see music-making these days as being kind of like audio collaging. There’s so much good stuff and technically everything has been done before so I try to pick apart what I like about all the music I’ve heard – past and present – and then piece it together in a way that feels good and makes sense to me. So it hopefully ends up sounding fresh yet nostalgic. That’s what I’m going for anyway.
Have you heard any new music lately? Got any recommendations?
There is so much good talent around, and so many people I’ve met who inspire me just by being good at what they do. To list a few, I’d have to say Tokimonsta – I only just discovered her, how did it take me this long? – Tkay Maidza, Deja, JOY, Young Franco, Kowl, Allday, Duoux, Our Man in Berlin… so many. Too many to mention.
Plus I’ve had a few people contact me on SoundCloud and Facebook lately and send me some unreleased bangers but I can’t really rat them out because they’re not available to the public… but shout out to you guys. There is some seriously fresh music being made out there.
Tell us a little about this release.
This is my first official single release so I’m crazy nervous. When it comes to the track, I guess to me Symmetry is the idea of two matching halves making a whole. So obviously it’s a metaphor for a relationship.
But it’s kind of also just about the human experience. It’s like the yin yang and dark versus light thing. Like when you feel really close to someone and it feels really nice but that closeness also means they now have the power to really hurt you. It’s kind of all that wrapped up into one, for me at least.
What inspired the artwork for this track?
I find it interesting how humans have always used symbols to communicate. So I always choose symbols that mean something to me, like the yin yang (balance), the cat (animals and nature), hands (humanity and connection), cubes (geometry and industry), earth (nature and life). I think it’s all tied up with symmetry, humanity, relationships, nature, life. That’s what it means to me anyway.
What else are you working on at the moment?
I’ve been working on a few more tracks for release next year and trying to polish up my production skills. I started this whole project without actually knowing how to produce music so I’m kind of running to catch up. [Laughs.] I’ve also been working on fine-tuning my live set for some upcoming shows that I’m pretty excited about.
Do you have any shows coming up?
Yep, I’ll be supporting Oliver Tank in Bendigo on the 6th of December and then playing the Semplesize Block Party with Banoffee on the 7th of December at Howler in Brunswick.
Should be some good times. ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯ ☯
More Stax Osset