sanctuary-lakes-by-jackson-dickie

What inspired you to first start making music? And how did you come to be in your current incarnation? Or if you prefer, a brief bio about you.

I was in New York in between touring for Cut Copy and set up a makeshift studio here with a 4 track, a guitar and some rhythm boxes. This is how i started making music many years ago. Initially i was improvising to a meditation tv station and sent the rough sketches to Andy who then started adding his own take on the songs. Then he sent back his own tracks for me to work on and that was how SL was born. Nothing was really planned, we were both just enjoying making music together for the first time without thinking about the end result.

Provide us with some info about your latest release…

The idea for the video was one line, ‘we walk into a body of water and disappear’ We sent this line to our friend and long time collaborators/directors Chris and Jackson who then fleshed out the idea some more. We shot the video in a day in the midst of an Australian heatwave in January in this pretty stunning location called The Big Drift and Point Cook. Aside from the heat, we got caught in an intense sand storm and kind of got stranded out there. Add a healthy dose of sleep deprivation and madness ensues.

Which ones would you consider your main influences both music-wise & non-music-wise?

For this project there weren’t really any musical influences. I wasn’t really listening to any music at the time and hadn’t been for some while. We were more influenced by a lot of heavy stuff that was happening in and around our lives. Not that we discussed this with each other while we were in the process of making it. It was almost a wordless conversation, but its all there in the music when you listen to it.

In what way does your sound differ from the rest genre-related artists/bands and why should we listen to your music? In other words, how would you describe your sound?

We wanted Sanctuary Lakes to sound like the entire record is submerged in water and that this would create a feeling of comfort rather than distress.

Please name your 3 desert islands albums, movies & books…

Just the sound of the ocean will be more than enough.

Do you prefer studio or performing live and why?

At the moment its the studio. Touring has taken a toll on the body after so many years…it would be nice to perform this material live one day though.

Is there any funny-unique story you would like to share with us, always in relation to your music ‘career’?

The fact that we have a career in music is pretty unique.

Which track of your own would you point out as the most unique and why?

Thats hard but maybe South Dakota…once Andy wrote and sang the lyric, ‘In the sea of love, you and me belong, endlessly together’ we knew we had an ending to the record and that it was important to end on a positive note after some heavy listening for 30 mins.

Would you like to share with our readers your future plans?

Hopefully they enjoy the record and that there is a healing quality to it for them.

Free question!!! (Ask yourself a question) you wish to answer and haven’t been given the opportunity…

Photo credits: Jackson Dickie

Curated by: Christos Doukakis

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