INTERVIEW: Greta Stanley on her debut album and upcoming tour: "I’m just so happy with how every song turned out, they’re exactly what I wanted them to be"
Interview: Emma Driver
Image: Saskia Hilton
Greta Stanley hails from far north Queensland and earlier this year released her second album Real Love in Real Life. It is a remarkable album that sees Stanley adopt a more electronic sound compared to the folk-indiepop of her 2017 debut Full Grown while retaining her propensity for raw, autobiographical honesty in her lyrics.
Through the track listing the album tells the story of falling in love and forming a relationship, from the nervous, heady, intoxicating first days, through building a sometimes messy togetherness ending with commitment and contentment. Although Stanley has embraced a new musical direction, there is an eclectic range of sounds on the album that represent the new and old Stanley. Shades of Full Grown can be found in the stripped back ‘Keep My Cool’ and in the brooding, dark ‘Heartbeat Harbour’, while her newer sound can be found in the electro pop ‘Hope It Lands’ and the synth-laden single ‘Red Earth Dirt’.
To celebrate the release of the album, Stanley will be performing across the east coast of Australia on her Real Shows In Real Life tour, starting this Thursday in Brisbane.
Real Love in Real Life is an album to savour. Stanley creates music that is so moving, involving and compelling, and alongside with her majestic voice, you find yourself utterly immersed in it. It is music that leaves an impression long after it finishes playing and you will want to constantly return to it. We recently met up with Stanley to chat more about the creation of the album and her tour.
Hi Greta, thanks so much for talking to us. Let’s kick it off with the album - it is fantastic. You made it over the last couple of years of crazy pandemic time, and it is also the so called ‘difficult second album’. What did you want to do with it, what was your intention behind it all?
It’s my fourth body of work, but my second album and I always knew I wanted to do another album but I wasn’t really sure when that would happen. We had two songs that we started with that were recorded with Tobias Kuhn, who’s a German producer, we were paired together during BIGSOUND quite a few years ago. It was on the table to even go over to LA and do an album there with Tobias and maybe another producer, and obviously COVID happened and we weren’t able to do that
I had lots of songs ready that didn’t make it onto previous albums, or new ones that I had written that I knew I wanted to do something with and when I pieced all the songs together I realised a lot of them were love songs. I am in a serious relationship now and it was the first one I’d ever been in, so I had a lot of songs about that, and some songs about family relationships and me learning to love myself and all of that. So the theme of the album was going to be something about love in all its different avenues.
As crappy as COVID was, it worked in my favour that I had the time to get in the studio. Even though we didn’t get to go overseas, it was kind of a blessing in disguise because I’m really happy with how it all turned out.
The album tracks that new relationship and the arc is really strong – listening to it from beginning to end, you really get that sense, and I also think you get that sense of change. When you were writing it, did you have that arc in mind? Or did it sort of come together once you’d recorded all the songs?
We recorded the songs without really thinking what order they were going to go in, or how we were going to shape the tracks on the album. Once they were done, Ed from [record label] Double Drummer and I listened through all the songs and he was like, ‘there’s a bit of a shape here, have you thought about ordering it in a timeline'. I felt a couple didn’t quite fit into the timeline, but we just rejigged it and made it into a story where I could put some of the more darker, emotional songs all together, so that there was a build and then a moment of sadness, and then it gets happy and ends on this upbeat country song I feel really captured my relationship and that feeling of real love. It definitely wasn’t thought out from the get go, it was something that came together once all the songs were finished.
I’m really interested in the opening track ‘Plant My Feet’, because it seems to set it all up so beautifully. It gives this context to your life. Did you feel that the song said something important upfront, or did you make that decision later to put it as the first track?
When we recorded that song I didn’t know where it was going to sit on the album, [but] I knew once it was done that I wanted it to be the opening chapter. I felt like it was an introduction to me. I struggle with anxiety and depression and not really knowing where I am in life and that kind of stuff and I think that is weaved all throughout the album. What helps bring me back down to earth in and puts me back on my path is those family relationships. I reference in the song my mum and the advice that she gives out, and I just knew once I’d recorded it, that was the one I wanted to open with. Musically, it sounded right, it’s an opening track, and lyrically it was what I wanted to begin the story with
Sound wise, it’s got quite a different feel to your debut album Full Grown, doesn’t it? There’s more synth, there are these cool electro pulses through it. I love all the double tracking of the vocals as well that just gives this whole other element. Did that come from a particular place? Was it a conscious decision to try a different sort of production?
[Real Love in Real Life producer] Tristan Barton was involved in Full Grown but not as much in a producer sense, he did drumming and contributed a few things, but with the Sun In My Eyes EP (2019) he was heavily involved and I liked that we had a bit of a pop element on that. I just really liked what he brought in and he’s got a real talent for sounds. His background is composing and doing stuff for film, he has so much knowledge about those kinds of sounds and he does a lot more electronically, whereas Mark Myers, who I also worked with, is a lot more in the studio, real instruments, which I still wanted to be on this album. We just kind of met in those two worlds.
I would have a Spotify playlist of songs that I liked and songs that I was of thinking I want the song to be influenced by and Tristan would take that and then put his producer talent on it. I definitely wanted it to be a bit more upbeat and a bit more pop just because it’s fun and it’s something I hadn’t done so much before. We referenced and spoke about Stranger Things a lot in the studio, the sounds on that I really liked it and that came into it a bit. A bit of Phoebe Bridgers, I love her work.
It’s interesting what you say about having a more pop style. Like in ‘Hope It Lands’, I can hear that party. Like that soundscape is so beautifully done. Did you have an image of that party in your head that you wanted to kind of put in the song?
The way that Tristan and I work is I have some little demos that I’ve just played on my guitar, and then I’ve written the lyrics and brought that in. It’s very stripped back, nowhere near what it is when it comes out on the album. Tristan is just really great in the sense that he can hear the lyrics bring them to life because he knows what I’m writing about and the sounds that would tell that story. I was so happy how that song turned out because it’s exactly what I wanted it to be and the story that I wanted to tell with it. The sound and the music behind it just suits the lyrics perfectly.
Comparing it to your debut album, and then looking at how you’ve musically evolved, I felt on this album, that there was just this greater vocal confidence. It felt like you were really pushing what your voice could do and it was really expressing complicated emotions. Is that how it felt to you when you were recording, in the studio?
Yeah, I think it comes down to a few things. Being this far along in my career and having done a few bodies of work, just over time you become more confident to try different things or for me more confident within my own voice and to not really hold back. Tristan is a great help and Mark as well in getting me to try things that I think I can’t do, whether that’s reaching another octave or something like that, they’ll coach me through it. When I first started I was probably more nervous to try a certain voice so I probably never would have tried a country song. It just comes from doing it for a long time, not being afraid to just try something now. If it doesn’t work, I’m sure that the boys would tell me that.
One song I thought was a really fantastic vocal performance is the song ‘Heartbreak Harbour’. It’s right in the middle of the track listing – it’s like an erratically beating heart in the middle of the album. Can you talk us through the making of that one?
Thank you. That song is one of my personal favourites. Weirdly enough, I wrote it about no one in particular, it wasn’t inspired by this person. It was written before my current relationship, and I was going through a period of feeling really lonely. I was a bit down and out and I was writing about longing for something real and longing for something that was love, and writing about what that might feel like. Daydreaming up what I wanted, which was someone that’s going to get a hold you when you fall apart. I remember just being in my room and feeling really upset and writing about that. It has a bit of a different meaning now, because I’m in a relationship, so when I listen to it I think of that now, and that’s what it’s about now, but at the time, it was about something else entirely.
I always wanted it to be a bit of a moody sound, I didn’t want it to be very pop. I wanted a real focus on the lyrics and for the lyrics to really be, strong and come across, I didn’t want them to be missed amongst sounds. I really like all the builds and everything. I’m very happy with how it sounds and tells the story really well, and it makes me feel what I was feeling when I wrote it. The album as a whole, I’m just so happy with how every song turned out. They’re exactly what I wanted them to be without even knowing that that’s what I wanted them to be.
Now, you also have some touring happening very soon. Will they be your first live shows since the whole live music shutdowns? Or have you been dipping your toe in the water since then?
First live tour. I did a couple of small shows in a little gap of COVID, and we were really lucky to be able to do Yours & Owls festival right before everything kind of shut down again. But yeah, the first tour in more than two and a half years. I’ve never toured with my main band, so going on the road with them is super exciting. Bronson is my partner and he plays in the band as well, so that’ll be really fun. I can’t speak on the band’s behalf, but for me, it feels like a mix of emotions. I’m excited but it feels a bit daunting, because my anxiety, I’m not a social person and when I tour a lot, I get better at it and I get better at feeling confident about it and you kind of know what you’re in for. But with two and a half years of not doing it, I feel brand new to it and I have to wrangle all those thoughts all over again.
I’ve got it in my mind that once we play the first show, I’m going to feel really good and it’s real and it’s happening. Throughout COVID, there was a bit of false hope around touring and being able to do it, so it still feels a little bit surreal, or something might change. Once we kick it off with that first show in Brisbane, we’ll all feel really good about it.
Are there any particular songs that you’re looking forward to be doing? What can we expect?
There’s so many because we haven’t toured. So many songs have come out that we haven’t gotten the chance to really play to an audience, which feels really weird. ‘Soak Into This’ and ‘New Feeling’ have been out the longest off the album, they came out before we even thought that the album was happening but we’ve hardly played them to audiences, so that feels weird. To me at least these songs feel old, but people who are coming along to these shows, they’ll be quite new.
We’re definitely excited to play all this new stuff. It’ll be predominantly this new album, and I’ll do a couple of solo songs, one or two off some older releases. There’ll be a bit of a mix but a big focus on this new album.
Can we expect a wall of synths, you know, like ’80s-style?
Yes! I wish I knew how to play synth. Tristan, who’s the drummer, he also has a little pad, so he does a bit of synth stuff. He’s got electronic drums, he’s got a lot going on. He’s really the backbone of it.
Bronson and Tom play bass guitar and lead guitar, and I play guitar as well, and sing. We’ve got a guitar doing some mimicking of the sound, we’ve got a lot of pedals going on. We don’t have a synth yet, they’re hard to find in Cairns! But that’s okay, we’re making it work. We’ve been really happy with how it’s sounding.
Have you thoughts beyond the shows? Are you thinking of making more music towards the end of the year?
The album was my focus, and then the tour is the focus for now, but I think in the back of my mind I know I want to keep writing. I’m not thinking another album, I haven’t gotten that far yet, but I’m definitely keen to work with some other artists, step out of my comfort zone a little. I do tend to work predominantly pretty independently, so I think I should step out and try and work with other people.
Overseas is a big goal of mine. I would love for my music to take me overseas. I’ve never been overseas, apart from Bali, so I’ve never had the money, with putting obviously all of it into music. It would be a really great opportunity to go over there. I’ve got a few goals on the list, but definitely make some new music and keep touring and hopefully land a few festivals and things like that.
Real Love in Real Life is out now via Double Drummer. You can buy and stream here.
Real Shows in Real Life tour dates
7th July Brisbane - Black Bear Lodge TICKETS
8th July Gold Coast - Mo's Desert Clubhouse TICKETS
9th July Ipswich – Studio 188 TICKETS
14th July Wollongong - La La La's TICKETS
15th July Sydney - Waywards (Newtown) TICKETS
16th July Newcastle - The Cambridge TICKETS
30th July Melbourne - Northcote Social Club TICKETS
5th August Townsville - Otherwise Bar TICKETS
6th August Cairns - Tanks Art Centre TICKETS
To keep up with all things Greta Stanley, you can follow her on Instagram and Facebook.
