ANIKA OSTENDORF OF HACHIKU
Hi Anika and thanks for taking the time out to speak with us at Musicology. Firstly congratulations on the debut album I'll Probably Be Asleep. Every album tells a tale and what is this new LP saying to the world?
It’s kind of a struggle for me to retrospectively analyse a collection of songs and their overarching or underlying meaning but I guess as a broad summary it reflects my life, thoughts about and observations of myself, the world around me and my role in such world over the past four years. Anger, frustrations, realisations, restlessness, defeat, being neither here nor there. The many facets of growing up, challenging your own perspectives and changing outlooks. That all sounds very depressing haha. But I guess when you are younger you have those rose-tinted glasses on that overtime figuratively speaking become more see-through and transparent to the realisation how doomed humanity is as a whole. I think that’s good though, if you don’t see the issues at hand how are you meant to try and fix them. After all though - besides material for thought and introspection - music is there to bring a certain sort of pleasure and enjoyment to the listener so I’d also like that to come across. A certain level of fun and carefree flow - at least musically speaking!
In terms of the writing and lyrical content, was there an overarching narrative tying the album together or an assortment of topics and inspirations that zig zag throughout the record?
I think there’s a little bit of personal life experience stuff in there and a lot of commentary and judgement of others around me - their behaviours, beliefs and bad judgements. It’s not necessarily overarching, each song very much deals with its own lyrical theme (from long distance relationships to my dog passing away to climate change deniers to obnoxious government officials to daydreaming of better places to be) but I guess one thing they all have in common is a slight escapist feel. ‘I’ll Probably Be Asleep’ - as the album title suggests.
Your single Bridging Visa B is very aptly named not simply for the subject matter it is addressing but also that of its construction in so much as it was recorded in a piecemeal fashion across locations and countries. Did this for you enhance the song’s meaning and personal experience compared to what it feels like to write and record a track it in a single place and a single studio session?
To be honest, we’ve never actually recorded a single song in a single studio session in one place. My whole workflow is very patchwork-like and I end up piecing together bits from many different songwriting / production sessions and see what fits together best. That sort of approach probably manifests itself in any song I’ve ever recorded and released.
The video clip for Bridging Visa B is a patchwork of European and Australiana imagery. Specifically what was it about the footage that you most wanted to encapsulate?
I think Mickey, the director, had a pretty clear vision on wanting to drop us into random scanned imagery from old geographical books even before he had even heard the song. It was an idea he’d been playing with for a while and It just so happened that it fit pretty perfectly with the lyrical meaning of the song. It’s almost creepy how much that video which we filmed in November 2019 predicted this current state of isolation and doomsday but I can’t say any of it was intentional.
Working again with director Mickey Manson the clip for Shark Attack is another wonderful video clip. Was it a case of Mickey creating storyboard for you to act out or largely your vision which he just captured in his own signature way?
For this one Mickey’s brief pretty much was like ‘Bring whatever props you have for a fun, adventure outdoor activity. Maybe some sports outfits, maybe some hiking outfits, maybe some summery beach outfits. Maybe some food for a picnic.’ Everything beyond that was improvised on the day on the spot - working with the props we had brought (which were a lot) and how they could fit together. There was definitely a lot of B-roll footage that Mickey didn’t end up using, for example Jessie rollerblading and Simon playing air tennis or all of us playing tug of war. I think Mickey looked through the footage at hand and somehow pieced together a storyline that made sense finding scanned imagery of mountains, landscapes and ocean views to go with it. So yeah the process seemed almost backwards - rather than a really scripted out scene-by-scene storyboard Mickey just filmed as much material as he could in front of the greenscreen and then created a story from it - like a collage.
With such richly layered tracks and a masterful finesse in your compositional structures, by prizing these layers apart can you elaborate on the technical nature of your production and construction through the instruments and electronic equipment you used on I'll Probably Be Asleep?
For that song I very vividly remember wanting to have a lot of guitar feedback layered with even more guitar feedback and somehow finding some sort of musical melody in all the noise (which I will never be able to replicate ever again live...whoops). I was staying at my girlfriend’s father’s converted warehouse / living space at the time in quite an industrial part of Melbourne with no neighbours around so I was able to make a lot of noise for a very extended period of time and I definitely made the most of it. I don’t think that song could have happened in my current room haha, my housemate would hate me!! I then cut up all that feedback noise and timed it to I think it’s 87 bpm and found a drumbeat on my Casio keyboard. After that I recorded some organ and flute to create more layered atmospheric parts to carry the verses along. Most of it really is guitar feedback mixed with various Casio keyboard beats and synth parts. We ended up playing this song live before I had finished recording it, which is pretty unusual for our normal process, so it was nice to be able to have the band play on the final recording and bring the whole song to life.
Signed to the globally recognised label Milk! Records, how much input and guidance have you received from founders and fellow musicians Jen Cloher and Courtney Barnett?
Jen and Courtney have both been super helpful from the start in providing guidance whenever you need it the most. Both are obviously around 40 steps ahead in their careers and it’s so reassuring hearing their input and experiences on how to navigate the world of trying to establish yourself as a musician and artist. I have attended many of Jen’s I Manage My Music workshops and learnt a lot during those - can highly recommend for any self-managed artists out there. Both Jen and Courtney are also very happy to share their spotlight with the other artists on Milk! and I’m super grateful for that - I’ve supported both on various tours across Australia, Europe and the U.S. and they are a great help if I ever need a contact or connection or advice on who could be mixing our next record or anything else.
It has been said that you think of yourself more as a producer than a songwriter and working in both capacities, can you detail the dualism between producer / musician and for you where the lines intersect and where the lines diverge?
I think in my situation I see all those roles pretty much combined into one simultaneously. While I am songwriting, I am producing, I am playing the instruments, I am trying to come up with lyrics, I am trying to figure out chord progressions. It’s a bit overwhelming sometimes and I am slowly getting to a point where I’d like to be separating all those steps a little because it gets so hectic and you keep distracting yourself. My bandmate described it as trying to colour in your picture while still drawing the outline. I think it’s just how my brain works though - not structured, no organisation, just whatever comes to my mind. Maybe it’s difficult to streamline and integral to the creative process but it’d be great to have a little more separation and clarity.
Given the clarity that hindsight affords, can you pinpoint a few select moments, decisions, outcomes that have occurred during your career that have proved to be pivotal?
I reckon moving to Australia four years ago definitely had the biggest influence on my current situation. I’m not sure if I had so confidently found my ‘music scene’ and people in Europe and I’m pretty certain that the musicians I get to surround myself with on a regular basis have had a big influence on me. Finding my bandmates in 2017 also was a pretty special moment. I love them very much and can’t really imagine myself playing with anyone else. They are super supportive and I’m glad how flexible they are in the constant back and forth between Hachiku solo-mode and Hachiku full band project. And I think lastly a few of the support tours we’ve been able to go on have been crazy - Courtney Barnett’s US tour earlier this year, supporting The Breeders and Jose Gonzales in Australia and Snail Mail in the UK. Performing at Iceland Airwaves was a definite highlight for me.
Lastly, on a philosophical level, what does music give you that nothing else does?
Mhhm that one’s a bit tricky. Music in terms of a performing musician that gets to play great shows I’d say fun, excitement, thrill, adventure, opportunities to see my family overseas and a beautiful sense of community. If you ask me about music from the perspective of an emerging artist and aspiring a career in it I’d say existential dread, frustration, hope, anxieties, and self-deprecation. Music from the perspective of a songwriter and producer I’d say challenge, feeling of progression, bipolar tendencies of absolute excitement about a new sound you find or a mixing trick you learnt followed by absolute devastation that you’ll never be as good as xyz you admire. It’s a love / hate relationship but that’s probably the same with anything that you are ambitious about and that you care about and where you maybe have high expectations in yourself - sometimes you meet those and sometimes you feel like an absolute failure. I think it’s all part of the process and motivation to keep going and progressing and getting better. Being content or having done a ‘good job’ maybe makes one complacent? That’s the perfectionist speaking here though, so please don’t take that as any sort of advice on how to do things. There must be less brutal ways haha.
