STEVE SMYTH
The Australian-born, Barcelona-based singer/songwriter has unveiled his latest release. An album, much like of life, is a cycle within cycles, and world within worlds. As distinct as the new body of work maybe, is heavily tied to past and indelibly linked to the future as the sun-soaked Spaniard has ordained.
Moving through your debut album, Release, which came out in 2011, and 2014's follow-up, the critically acclaimed Exits, was there a dramatic distinction between those two records with the time and place you were at creatively, and now a decade down the road and the works you are currently producing as a man who has circled the sun another ten times?
Absolutely, the distinction between those two records is night and day. Release was raw—a reflection of my younger self, still discovering my voice and chasing my curiosities. By the time Exits came along, I’d seen more of the world, experienced more heartbreak, and was starting to understand the weight of storytelling. Now, a decade later, the works I’m producing come from a place of even deeper introspection. There’s a balance of urgency and patience, a respect for the cycles of life, and an understanding of how fleeting moments can shape us. Each piece feels like it’s carved from a different season of my life.
What specific considerations did you take into account with Matches and its relation to the preceding Blood and upcoming Fractures and Celebration?
Matches is the second chapter in a larger story. Where Blood was raw and reflective, focusing on the pulse of life and the wounds we carry, Matches is about the spark—those chased moments that ignite transformation or signal change. It’s the crossroads, the decisions we make, and the outcomes we live with. As for Fractures and Celebration, they’re the other sides of the story—the breaking apart and the coming together again. They are pages turning into existence, like chapters. sometimes we pause in an unfinished book, let them breathe through us. As a whole I’ve written and recorded them, funny how they are asking me to give them their own time for when to be released.
Bracketed by your time spent living between Spain and Sydney, how has the confluence of cultures cross-pollinated your methodology towards your work?
Living between these two places has been an immense blessing. Sydney gave me my roots, my foundation, and the grit that comes from growing up surrounded by the ocean and a close-knit community. Spain, on the other hand, has taught me to embrace life’s slower rhythms. There’s an openness to art and a respect for tradition here that I’ve absorbed into my work. The colours of Gaudí, the warmth of shared meals—they’ve all seeped into my approach, not just to music but to life itself.
There is a deep philosophical element to Matches as it explores concepts from the micro to the macro, from life to death and the disparate to connection. Fundamentally, is it cycles within cycles that you are exploring and attempting to canvas?
Searching for the song, searching for the words - trying to wrangle it, pry it open, wring it out . Get around it, through it, grasp, gasp for air, rip tidal, heaved and dragged. Exactly. Life is full of these winds—cycles within cycles. Whether it’s the rise and fall of a relationship, the turn of the seasons, or the greater arcs of life and decay, they all intertwine. With Matches, I’m exploring those intersections. Strike that match, see it burn to its twine twig of ash, what did you light ? What shadow did you see, what path did it reveal?
You have referred to the tightwire walk that life constantly makes one tread with a balance of opportunity on one side and missed opportunity on the other. Can you share some of your experiences and those that have been failed-to-launch moments and those that have been instances of stratospheric success?
Life is full of those near-misses and unexpected wins. There have been moments where opportunities slipped through my fingers, whether it was the timing not aligning or me simply not being ready. All I know is that I’m too stubborn to have regrets. I was hardnosed to my instincts and easily coerced to my folly. So, I’m settled in that I don’t retrace my steps and I got lost along the way.
I’ve shared music there, to the furthest lands I never could have envisioned and for the people I’ve met, that I will forever be grateful.
Famed for your storytelling ability and exquisite narratives woven into your lyricism, can you elaborate on your methodology toward writing and distilling into words the sentiments you cover?
I believe every artist has to create their own language. We're born into a native tongue, but as we grow, we start questioning the stories we inherit, realizing that the words we've been given don’t always align with our experiences. There are subtleties in dialects that can shift the entire weight of a phrase, where a single word can hold an entire world. Writing is about working diligently to communicate something deeper—an attempt to archive the weight of a thousand dialects to explain a single, profound dream. It’s an intangible pursuit, always at risk of being lost in translation, but you gather your tools, chip away at the stone, and shape something out of it—much like sculpting a statue from a boulder, carving away at the excess until you uncover the truth beneath.
Sonically, how did you settle upon the right instrumentation that best captured the notions you were trying to crystallize?
The instrumentation is like a painter’s palette—each sound a choice of colour, each arrangement shaping the overall picture. Is the song a vast landscape or an intimate portrait? For Matches, I wanted the sound to reflect the tension within its themes—delicate at times, explosive at others. Much like a director or editor shaping the rhythm and pulse of a film, the instrumentation plays a crucial role in painting the emotional canvas. It’s about marrying the right tones to the spirit of the song, allowing the colours to lead the way.
Having established ‘Myth Studio’, your craft and woodwork design studio, aside from it being a different creative pursuit and business opportunity, when you are in that mind space, do you find your thoughts wandering back to music, having had a different task to sink your teeth into which in turn sharpens your musical thoughts?
Absolutely. Myth Studio is like a reset button for me. Working with my hands, shaping wood, and creating something tangible allows my mind to wander freely. Often, when I step back from music, the melodies or lyrics I’ve been chasing find their way to me naturally. It’s a cyclical process—one creative pursuit fuels the other.
Having performed in unusual venues such as cathedrals in Barcelona and sharing the stage with so many amazing artists, were any words of wisdom imparted upon you that really resonated and altered the way you approached your craft?
My freedom has been shaped by many travelers and explorers—some I’ve had the privilege to walk alongside, while others have left behind maps in the form of their words and works. One piece of wisdom that has stayed with me over the years comes from Leonard Cohen: 'Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.' That sentiment continues to guide me, reminding me that art is not something separate from life—it’s what remains after we fully live it.
Learning to embrace the echoes and let things breathe.
Something we ask all who join us at Musicology: What does music give you that nothing else does?
Music gives me a way to connect—to myself, to others, and to something greater. It’s the only language that speaks directly to the soul, bypassing all the barriers we put up. It’s freedom, it’s truth, and it’s home.
Catch Steve Smyth Performing This Week
Wed 12 Feb - Evelyn Hotel - Melbourne
Thu 13 Feb - Oxford Arts Factory - Sydney
