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MUSIC FEATURE

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Matter of Time by Meg Mac is out Sept 16, including on JB-exclusive bone vinyl, via EMI.

set. We sat down on the edge of the stage and kind of faced each other. It had to be on the album just like that: the two vocals and the guitar. Tell us about working with creative director Dilly Gent (Radiohead, Phoebe Bridgers) – did you find it a smooth process discussing abstract ideas in turning the aural into the visual? [At the time] I could talk about the mood of the album, but I had no idea what that would look like. I told Dilly about the Southern Highlands, running away, the tall trees, how I wanted it to feel like a cold night, the mist, moonlight. The artwork and the music videos have this vibe to it now. I love how it turned out. OnYour Mind is a sauntering surprise, but your voice fits its feel so perfectly. Did the song go through many iterations of arrangement before it came to this? It’s so weird listening to the original voice memo for this! It’s just me on the piano. The Donuts were producing this track, and I’d sent them a demo to play with. One night they sent me this video on WhatsApp of them in the studio – it sounded crazy. I have no idea how they came up with it – it’s something I never would have imagined – but I love it. There are some moments of stunning vocal power, technically speaking, across the album. Is challenging your own voice something you prioritise when writing? I’m learning on tour now how hard it is to sing some of the songs! The highest note on the album is in Something in the Water. I thought it needed a moment like that, but when you’re writing songs at home in your pyjamas, you don’t have much motivation to sing something ridiculous like that. One day I asked Hannah what she would do in this part of the song if she had to go crazy. She just sang this line, and I went to the studio the next day and added it to the song. She’s got a writing credit on the album now too...

Photo by Isaac Brown

The sunk-cost fallacy can be an insidious tripwire for anyone, but Sydney singer-songwriter Meg Mac refused to let its tentacles draw her away from the album she knew was hiding within her.The alt-pop talent answered our questions about the making of her stunning third LP, Matter of Time. Words Zoë Radas

You binned (almost) an entire album before regrouping to write most of what became Matter of Time . Beforehand, did scrapping so much work seem a distant, drastic, ”It’ll never happen to me” idea? Yeah! It seemed totally impossible and I still can’t believe I did it. For some reason, I knew I had this other album inside of me, and it felt so much better. I had to just trust that. It wasn’t easy, and very hard to let so many people down. But I took the risk and ran away, started again, and literally put everything I had into making this happen. Now the album is done I can honestly say it was worth it! You’ve said of Don’t Cry that its lyrics were almost a premonition: ”I was keeping it all inside but I just hadn’t figured it out yet.” Have you had a confronting realisation like this before? It happens a lot. Like when people ask how you come up with lyrics and ideas, you say, 'I have no idea' or 'it comes out of nowhere'. But now I believe it has to come from somewhere. I can sing things I’m too afraid to admit to myself, and then one day, when I’m brave enough, I will see it and understand. Songs can make sense of the world.

You’ve sung this song live, and recorded it for this album, with your sister Hannah – and its blood harmonies are incredibly gorgeous. How did it come about? Thank you. It wasn’t originally the plan to have Hannah sing it with me on the album. We played it live at a show before I’d done the vocals, and it was the most magical part of the Meg and her sister Hannah, photographed backstage by Metaxia Coustas at Meg's Sydney Opera House performance on June 18 this year. Credit: @hannahmcinerney (Instagram)

Continue reading the full Q&A online at stack.com.au

74 SEPTEMBER 2022

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