The jazzy, once instrumental, sounds of Adelaide producer Oisima has evolved into an explosion of smooth chilled out beats and other worldly sounds. He’s on tour to currently celebrate the release of the track ‘Everything About Her’ featuring the vocals of Annabel Weston, who normally lends her vocals to Brisbane band, Archie. Philippe Perez caught up with Oisima in the midst of his travels for the single tour, ahead of an appearance at Splendour in the Grass and at the OutsideIn Festival in Sydney.
Is this Oisima’s first time out on the road?
As a tour yes, I’ve been travelling and playing interstate shows for probably the last ten months or so. But as a [proper] tour so, yeah it is the first tour.
I believe the first show of the tour showcasing some of the songs from the forthcoming album was last night. How did that go?
Yeah it was in Brisbane and it was absolutely amazing. I really wasn’t sure if anyone even knew my music as it was my first time playing there. It was absolutely overwhelming. The responses were a million times better than I could ever have anticipated.
I’ve read that your live set is a bit more upbeat as opposed to your recorded material which can be seen as little more chilled out. Are you going along that line for your live sets in this tour?
It’s a funny thing with my music. Even when I listen to it myself… I don’t know. I think in a live show it does give me an opportunity to just have an audience – in the time of an hour – where I can show what it is I am trying to get across. Whenever you listen to a new record, it’s pretty easy to just skip through or get to the parts that you really like.
In a live show, you got context. You’re face to face with people. In a live show you actually can connect with whoever is up with engaging with whatever is going on at the time.
When I’m at a show, I’ll be meeting and chatting with everyone. Because my music is… I’m not sure how’d you put it, really. It’s not what you usually hear on the radio or anything like that. It’s hard to explain. I suppose when you do a live show I think the music is just put into a particular perspective.
Your new track Everything About Her is a collaboration with Annabel Westen from local band Archie. How did you both get together to collaborate.
Well I’ve been searching for a female vocalist for quite a while and obviously living in Adelaide I always keep my ear open for vocalists here. I went and saw the band play about a year ago at a venue called Arcade Lane here. As soon as I heard her sing her first song, I immediately knew that was the voice that I wanted on my music.
We spent about a week in the studio together, and it was an amazing experience. She’s a phenomenal jazz-trained vocalist and she made the song her own, which was a beautiful thing.
The track has this nice jazzy vibe about it. You probably chose quite well in terms of the singer. Is getting into a jazzier vibe a more of a developmental shift in style for you?
My stuff has always been very jazzy to an extent. I guess with any kind creative endeavour, you always have some sort of progression. I think my first two releases I adore, but it’s just another little chapter in whatever it is that’s kind of going on for me musically and personally.
What draws you to jazz? Do you go to jazz clubs and watch improvisational nights and get involved in that thing?
Yeah, definitely. Adelaide more than anywhere that I’ve been has a really really strong jazz scene. We’ve got the Adelaide conservatorium which is great. I’m not sure if it’s their teachers or what have you, but everyone who graduates from that jazz school there is just phenomenal. We’re very fortunate to have a lot of different kinds of quartets to a full soul band kind of thing that do wonderful things from the conservatorium.
It’s not a conscious decision, but I’ve fallen in love with jazz over the last 5 years or so. Whenever I go into a record store I just walk to the jazz section straight away these days. It’s a subconscious thing I think too. It must be the freedom [of expression] in jazz that I think is missing in modern music that I’m drawn to.
Your forthcoming album actually has a lot of collaboration on it. Could you give us an insight on who else you’ve worked with?
It’s still in the process of being made at the moment. On my previous albums I’ve worked with a multi-instrumentalist called Adam Page who plays a lot of brass and woodwind. I’ll be still working a bit with him. Obviously Annabel is on the album and I’ve got a few others who I can’t reveal at this point, but they’re very special musicians including a beautiful singer from the States and a beautiful singer from New Zealand as well contributing hopefully.
Is it sometimes daunting working with other musicians on your work?
I’m excited by it. I think the thing I enjoy most with it is seeing them get free reign to take the music where they want to. [Whether it be] with their own musical styles or whatever they see. Melodies, or whatever it is, I just give them full freedom. I never whistle a tune or play something for them that much. I never do that.
I enjoy seeing how they perceive whatever it is that I’ve created and how that makes them feel and in turn seeing what they record. It takes everything I do to another level, and it will be something I will definitely be doing a lot more of.
I listened to a Soundcloud mix of yours on a bike ride earlier this morning on a bike ride here and it matched with the visual of the sunrise in a certain kind of way. I was keen on hearing your thoughts about visualising your music. Do you have visuals in mind when creating and playing your music?
Yeah, I mean absolutely. I’m very drawn towards very emotive visuals, or [emotive] ‘anything’ really that goes along with audible art. I’m currently working with a filmmaker down in Adelaide that goes by the name of Nemeth [for the album tour later in the year]. He’s an incredible filmmaker and we’re going to be spending quite a lot of time putting a beautiful type of visual aesthetic to the live show and all that kind of thing.
So yeah, I reckon it plays a big part of the music I make.
The incorporation of light and visuals is something I’m seeing a growing lot of local live acts nowadays trying to incorporate that in their sets. Have you been influence by those local acts with light and visual aspects?
I think so. Even when it comes to film clips or promo videos, I think it adds a nice context. When you are stimulated audibly and visually at the same time, it takes both mediums to another level.
With performing, with one person on a stage, it can be a little disengaging at times. Having a real strong element of visuals gives the audience a much more broader experience live.
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Oisima will next be playing the Cuckoo Bar in Adelaide on the 11th of July – this Thursday – before hitting up Splendour in the Grass at the end of the month, and then moving onto Perth for a show on August 2nd, Canberra on the 17th of August and the Outside In Music Festival on 21st September in Sydney. Tickets are on sale now!
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