MILES DEVINE OF RAINDROP

Hi Miles, thanks for taking the time out to speak with us at Musicology.

Firstly congratulations on your new single Bob Dylan’s 116th Dream. Can you elaborate a little on the choice of title?

Thanks so much! It came from a Bob Dylan song titled ‘Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream’ off the album ‘Bringing it All Back Home.’ At the start of the song, Bob starts to play until a few seconds in where he has a coughing fit of laughter and has to request to start the song again. This happened a lot in the process of recording this particular track, and much like Bob, we would be coughing too so I thought it was a fitting title.

The video clip to Bob Dylan’s 116th Dream was produced by creative extraordinaire and coffee critic SPOD. Was it a fairly even collaborative process between yourself and SPOD in how the storyboard and production went for the clip or were you happy to leave it in his very capable (and sweaty) hands?

The clip for the song was completely, in EVERY way conceptualised and directed by SPOD. He just got us to hire a green room for a day with a camera operator, so we did that and followed a very specific shot list that he wrote out. We filmed it all not having clue what he would do to it, and it really took us by surprise! The film clip is very much a representation of SPOD taking full creative control and nailing it.

Would you say that the free flowing track with its ambling bass lines and extended breakdowns of fuzzed out organs is representative of an underlying concept that you are exploring in this track. That is to say the long, overarching and cyclic nature of the six minute masterpiece is a musical consolidation of ones experience in life that loops over and over but it just punctuated with a few moments of relief?

Sometimes I feel like I want to be five genres at once, to the point where I have no idea where we sit on that spectrum. Things generally started floating towards DIY electronica by accident in the studio when I started taking the analogue sounds and further exploring places I could take it.

This follows on from the previous single Only Hope which has an eclectic mix of styles woven into it which begs the question as to which end of the musical spectrum do you feel most at home when battling the tug-o-war of psychedelic rock and DIY electronica?

For sure! The overall idea of this song demonstrates how scattered and all over the place my personality is. Due to the fact that the album resembles these concepts emotionally throughout the whole record, this particular song is the perfect musical demonstration of that.

You have just released your debut album Mild Meltdowns, 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?

The whole album was a representation of all my weirdness, weaknesses, beliefs and how they all mould together and create a weird, colourful sound. Each song is linked to a “meltdown” that occurred in my life, whether it be a thought I felt for one day or something that had been occurring for years. The songs are my reflections on these meltdowns and how I dealt with them.

What were some of the challenges in putting this LP together and conversely what were some of the greatest surprises you experienced through the writing / recording process for Mild Meltdowns?

The biggest challenge was dealing with my own thoughts. I gave myself an unlimited amount of time to record so I wouldn't have any pressure whatsoever. Little did I know, not having deadlines and a bit of restriction can make things more difficult for you if you're not balanced. There were constant surprises to me recording the album. Using tape to change the speed of songs always made things shift to levels I never thought they could.

In working alongside your partner and co-songwriter Hunter Atari, what came to bear on this record through this intimate fusion that would otherwise not be possible if you had worked with just another musician and co-songwriter?

Hunter has always understood my lyrics more than anyone. She will often start writing with me when I'm half way through an idea but just can't figure out what's wrong or missing. She then takes it, gets rid of the nonsense, and adds magic! It's real fun.

Launching your album at Waywards in Newtown, what is your current take on the current live music scene in Sydney?

I believe Sydney is a tricky place for any band to play. It’s hard to know why because there are lots of amazing venues still open but I still think that sometimes it really just relies on if your band happen to make music that the culture of that particular city are crazy about. Some of my favourite bands in the world still can’t even sell out the Oxford Art Factory. When I realised this I stopped seeing it as a problem but as just a reason to want to be the best I can be.

From punter to performer, what performance elements have you taken into your own shows from what you have seen of other acts (and for that matter what you haven’t seen) that makes its way into your performance craft?

Well I really liked when I saw AIR at the Opera House and they talked to the crowd through their vocoders, making them sound like cute French robots. I also believe that lights and visuals are often the most important element of putting on an amazing show. I have plans to have that element of Raindrop’s live show dramatically enhanced over the next few years.