Tell us about your third album, Liquorice. This album came very naturally. I wrote it between Brisbane/Magandjin and Melbourne/Naarm, mostly at home with no expectations of what it might end up sounding like. It’s all about intimacy, heartbreak and acceptance. 

What is the biggest change between your music now and the music that first introduced us to Hatchie almost nine years ago? These days when I’m writing, I don’t have as much of a preconceived idea of what I want the music to sound like. I let things happen far more naturally and give the songs time to breathe. I used to draw direct inspiration from particular artists, whereas now it feels like the ideas are coming from within myself. I just want to make music that I love – and if others love it too, that’s an added bonus. 

You moved back to Australia from LA just before you began writing Liquorice. How did that influence the sounds and ideas we hear across the record? I found myself at a crossroads while figuring out my identity, living back with my parents for a bit, turning 30… It felt like I was starting from the beginning again. That might sound stifling but I actually found it really freeing. I wrote this album with a clean slate rather than trying to continue something from the previous albums. 

 

 

 

 

 

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You then went back to LA to produce the album with Jay Som. Tell us about why that was the perfect collaboration to create Liquorice. We love her music and have a lot of the same influences! My husband Joe and I co-wrote and produced the demos at home before bringing them to her and she instantly understood what we needed. We were also able to get Stella Mozgawa (Warpaint) on drums, so it was win-win. 

Why is it important to you to live a life outside of art? It helps me step outside of the persona – or I guess the brand – that is Hatchie. You need lived experiences to be able to write, and for a period there my life was like 90 per cent touring and promoting music, and 10 per cent sleeping it off, which is pretty boring to write about. 

You embraced your ‘musical insecurities’ in the making of the album – what kind of power arose when you leant into your perceived limitations? Letting go of the expectation I had set for myself to constantly be improving or learning new production techniques changed everything. I had set up a psychological system that was really fatiguing and disheartening, to the point where it hindered me from even wanting to write. Focusing on my existing strengths really helped with my confidence which led to more natural writing.

Nostalgia is at the core of this project – if nostalgia was a flavour of liquorice, what would it taste like? Bitter but sweet, with a hint of sea salt! 

You can get a load of Hatchie's album Liquorice from November 7th.