Formula Indie Sessions _ Interview with fhae

What is your earliest memory connected to music?

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Every long drive my parents would always play the same two CD’s; The End of History by Fionn Regan and Fleet Foxes by Fleet Foxes. It became my family’s own little ritual. My sisters and I would randomly start singing together with my dad. We never skipped a track and it got to the point where I knew the albums off by heart. I could sing every word and knew what song was going to play next. 

How did your passion for creating music begin?

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I have always had a love for music. My dad taught me guitar when I was around 13 and I really enjoyed learning covers. When I was maybe around 16 I was in a multi-media class at school and we had to make a soundscape to play over a video. I learnt how to use garageband and one day that week when I got home from school I downloaded the app on my phone and recorded my first ever song. I used wired apple headphones to hear and record, placing the microphone in my guitar. That song is ‘i waited’ 

What’s the story behind your current music project?

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I was making music just for my own enjoyment and my sister who has her own projects told me that I should consider putting them on some streaming service. My first album was ‘fruits and vegies’ (which yes I do realise I spelt veggies wrong, but I did the artwork and just decided to keep it) Eventually I had released a few different albums when that same sister introduced me to 4000 Records. 

How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music before?

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Moody, ambient, ethereal, experimental folk 

What is one thing you’ve learned that completely changed the way you make music?

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I’m not sure that there is just one or maybe there is none. I don’t know, a part of me feels like everything I learn makes me rethink everything and then the other thinks that I make it the same way I always have. But I will say that upgrading from Garageband to Logic was a big game changer. The larger sound library definitely made me incorporate more synthy, electronic sounds and want to experiment more. 

What tools, instruments, or software are essential in your creative process?

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I would say that Logic is pretty essential to my music making process as I don’t ever really plan or pre-write any tracks. I just sort of experiment and build layers of instruments and vocals within the logic session. Reverb is also definitely an essential, I seem to put it on virtually everything and don’t think I could live without it. 

Which indie artist or song are you loving right now?

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I am currently really loving Yirinda from Queensland, Australia. Fred Leone and Samuel Pankhurst combine Aboriginal language and beautiful strings and I just could not recommend their album Yirinda more.  

How have your personal experiences influenced your music and artistic vision?

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I think everything around me influences my music and artistic vision and I find that a lot of the time I’ll create a song and feel like it holds no meaning. But when I come back to it months later, I realise it’s a direct reflection of something that was happening when I made it. 

In my opinion it can also be a hard line to navigate when it comes to sharing personal experiences through music as you never know how it will be received. With that being said my album ‘she lives within me’ is completely drawn on my own personal experiences as a child. Each track is from (what I imagine was) my perspective as a child and how I perceived the world. 

What emotions or messages do you hope listeners take from your work?

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I hope that listeners can find some form of peace in music. A lot of my music is of course a reflection on my own self and I try to explore my darker emotions such as guilt, grief, depression and greed. Although these are undesirable feelings, I feel like if I am able to contain them in a song and make them beautiful then they are less scary and easier to own. 

 What’s the most important lesson music has taught you so far?

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Music has taught me that there is always going to be something you don’t know and that there is always something to learn and that is ok.  I am very self critical when it comes to my music, I have no musical education and I mostly have learnt how to make music through trial and error. So sometimes I really feel out of my depth but it’s important to remind myself that a lot of musicians feel like this and that it’s always ok to reach out to my community and ask questions.

What is a dream venue or festival you would love to perform at?

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I have been trying to come up with an answer for this question and honestly I don’t know if I have a dream venue or festival that I would want to perform at. I haven’t ever given it much thought, from my perspective my music feels very small and intimate and I truely love playing smaller venues. It gives me the opportunity to support fellow artists and small businesses. It also gives me the opportunity to interact with my audience in a way I don’t think I could if it was more than 100 people. So I think that my dream venue is just somewhere where I am able to connect with likeminded people that just love music. 

If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and why?

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It would definitely be Grouper. Not only because she is Grouper! but because she has had an incredible impact not only on my own music but on me as a whole. It was in high school that I discovered ambient music and the adjacent. I would get home after school and blast it on my speakers next to my bed and just listen for hours. I found it was the only way to unwind from my day and just be. It was on some kind of autoplay and Grouper came on and it just shifted my entire world. I had never heard something so melancholic and dreamlike yet so devastatingly beautiful. To this day she is still one of my favourite artists because she is able to encapsulate so much emotion within her music.

Where can our listeners follow and support your music? (Website,Spotify, IG, links)

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My music is available on all platforms with the exception of spotify and my instagram is @fhae_music 

Bandcamp: https://fhae.bandcamp.com/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4xP92aB_Qk&list=PLDMYF3hbNFao6gNAK4Q4h0KF-I0uR3Ikg

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/fhae-music

Looking toward the future, what’s your dream for the next chapter of your musical journey?

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Looking towards the future I am hoping to create more concept albums and experiment more. I currently make all my music at home in my bedroom or living room, with mostly second hand equipment and I would really like to maybe one day record in a studio and increase my audio quality. I also am hoping to incorporate my own visual art more whether that’s in a music video or live performance.

What do you hope listeners will discover about you along the way?

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I hope that listeners can discover that they can make music as well! You don’t need the highest quality software or technology. If you have a vision then that’s all you really need, even if you just want to make it for yourself and very release it.