BLUEFOX J

19 March 2021

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To mark the launch of new EP That Sky, CM (known as Cameron to his mum) sat down with Anna Karnas-Johns to delve into the EP's backstory and talk about the future for Bluefox J.

 

A K-J: I’m back to talk with Cameron about what’s been happening in the world of Bluefox J since we last sat down to talk music – and particularly about Bluefox J’s new EP release, That Sky.

 

So, hello! It’s been more than two and a half years since we sat down to talk about the Blue Dusk EP. What’s been happening since then?

 

Thanks Anna, it's great to chat again. So... after releasing the first EP we were planning to leap straight into making a full album, but life circumstances meant that 2019 didn’t offer a lot of time for recording. The 2020 lockdowns offered plenty of recording time, if nothing else. By then, we had a batch of songs that didn’t fit our vision for the album, so we decided to deal with those first and put them out as an EP. Now, all decks are clear and the album is finally percolating. But first, we’re all set to send our latest EP baby out into the world, and really hope people connect with it.

 

What kind of recording process did you go through under lockdown for the new EP?

 

For obvious reasons, it was very much a self-produced solo recording. Fortunately I’d just upgraded my software and equipment so I was able to hunker down and get to see what it was all capable of. It was also the first time I’ve ever had a loop library at my disposal. I’ve always been keen to see if I can use loops and samples in ways that are organically musical and complement my own audio recordings. I was pleasantly surprised at the level of synthesis I was able to achieve.

 

Tell us about the EP’s opening track, That Sky.

 

I’d been wanting to record a song that reflected the lush choral sound of The Beatles’ Because, from Abbey Road. The song I came up with is nothing like Because, but its main melody definitely lent itself to multiple voice parts and harmonies. Initially, I wanted it to be a fairly simple recording – just acoustic guitar and vocal parts. But the deeper I got with the track, the more it seemed to call for electric guitar lines and percussion. It was by far the most time- and labour-intensive track on the EP, mainly in the hours and hours spent recording vocal track on top of vocal track, and trying to balance them all in the mix.

 

You released track two, Two In This Room, as a single in 2017. What prompted you to include a new version in this EP?

 

I was never happy with the old version, but I liked the song enough to want to produce a better recording. I went back to the previous mix and layered on some dreamy guitar tones and replaced some of the vocals using a much better mic than I’d used first time around. I think this new version does the song a lot more justice.

 

Severance is your first release that seems to be largely sample-based. What can you tell us about it?

 

Severance had a working title of ‘Experiment’ for a long time, which describes how it started out – a few hours playing around with string, bass and drum loops. I spent a lot of time arranging the loops into a shape that had musical structure and a sense of momentum, and then added a solo guitar part as a melodic pin. After that, it was all about layering in more colours, mostly through guitar parts with varying effects that complemented the loop tones and built the tension. I really think of Severance as an instrumental piece, even though it has a recurring vocal refrain.

 

I believe that No We Won’t was another reworking of an old track. Can you tell us how that came about?

 

It already existed as an instrumental called Nice Work If You Can Get It. There wasn’t a lot to it, but it had a nice chugging rhythm and I always thought it could work well as the backing track to an actual song if I could retrofit a melody to it. The harder I tried, the less luck I had finding a tune for it, but eventually a simple melody presented itself and I layered the vocals on thick, with a range of effects that gave them a dreamy, choir-like sound. The other main addition was the drum track, which gave the whole thing a lot more grunt.

 

How do the lyrical themes on That Sky differ from the themes you explored on the Blue Dusk EP?

 

Both have been quite a mixed bag. On Blue Dusk, we touched on issues of existential angst, lost friendship and hypocrisy – nothing too heavy! On That Sky we cover a similar range of terrain. In the title track, we explore the interconnectedness of all things… and the possibility of embracing these connections. Two In This Room attempts to capture the feelings brought up when communications break down and someone feels undervalued in any kind of relationship. Severance uses the cycles of nature as a metaphor for endings, forced or otherwise. As for No We Won’t, the lyrics came out as a rallying cry for anyone who's been bullied or made to feel insignificant for being who they are. Having said all of that, I’m not particularly interested in telling people what to think about our songs – everyone will bring their own meanings to them, meanings every bit as valid as mine.

 

Was there much collaboration involved in this EP?

 

My main collaborator was James Vincent at Masterlux Mastering, who got the whole project over the line with his tweaks to my final mixes. James had a really intuitive understanding of the tracks and was able to give the whole project a feeling of cohesion and clarity, and a cinematic vibe that perfectly suited it. I have huge respect for mastering engineers. I still have no idea what they actually do, but I stand in awe of the sonic alchemy they work.

 

Now, tell us about that long-promised album!

 

It’s coming, I swear! Luckily, we’ve got a bit of a head start, as the songs are all written and three of them are already partially recorded. They all predate the songs on That Sky, so I’m sure that the technical advances we’ve made over the last year will take them in some unexpected directions. That said, the songs we’re working on are certainly simpler, more conventional songs and are more emotionally direct than anything we’ve released so far. I’m itching to get them out there.

 

And I’m itching to hear them. I hope we can come together to mark their release soon.

 

Thanks Anna - as do I. 2024 at the very latest!

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18 July 2018

 

CM was honoured to talk with Anna Karnas-Johns about the Blue Dusk EP, and how it came to be.

 

A K-J: Firstly, tell us about the EP – how long did it take to record? And how long had you been working on these songs?

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The actual recording took place in a cycle of bursts and crashes from mid-2017 until mid 2018. It’s entirely self-produced, apart from the mastering.(Thanks again, Panorama Mastering). The songs vary in age. Most have been around in one form or another for a few years, apart from Rose in the Razor Wire, which came together quite spontaneously in the studio.

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Let's do a track-by-track walk-through of the EP. What can you tell us about The Holes in Our Heads?

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That song actually used to be a loud guitar-based rock ballad that I performed with a previous band.
I was never happy with the lyrics and certain parts of the melody, so I shelved it after that band broke up. Still, I always liked the main verse and chorus melodies. I ended up gutting it, keeping the strongest melodic lines and the few lyrics that actually made sense. It changed from a self-focused mope into, I hope, a more universal reflection on existential doubt and confusion. Which makes it extremely autobiographical anyway.

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What made you choose Wayfaring Stranger as a cover?

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Apart from it being a folk-gospel classic, there’s a solemnity about it that appeals to me, as well as a simplicity that lets everyone put their own stamp on it. It captures a feeling of exile and separation from loved ones, and a sense of looking ahead to happier times on the other side of the veil.

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It’s been covered by so many people - the most obvious being Johnny Cash, but other brilliant people like Neko Case and Joan Baez have made it their own too. We haven’t tried to reinvent it but hopefully we’ve given it our own spooky electro-acoustic flavour.

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Rose in the Razor Wire seems unusual for you – it reminded me more of a round or madrigal than a conventional song.

 

That was a really interesting one to put together. I basically recorded each of the vocal parts as full tracks of repeating phrases. The mixing process became part of the composition - deciding what to pull back and bring forward at which point. It was a bit like the proverbial chunk of marble, chipping away to find the right shape amidst all of the options. Most of the compositional side of that piece was actually in removing things.

 

Can you explain the link between the title and the song’s lyrics?

 

Like many Australians, I was haunted by the death by self-immolation of Omid Masoumali, a refugee held under our supposed care in Nauru. To know that my country had driven him, and other vulnerable humans, to that level of hopelessness was deeply disturbing. The song is a gut reaction to all of this, and a humble requiem to Omid and others like him.

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Oxygen in Blue is a bit of an outlier, sonically. How did that track come about?

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That one was pretty much just a synth jam that I ended up liking. I could almost call it an accident. You're right - it’s definitely a bit of an outlier but I felt like somehow it fitted with the other material on the EP and supplied some levity amongst the heavier themes of the songs around it.

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And the final track, This That?

 

That’s an old song that had several incarnations in my head before finding the form you hear on the EP. It used to have a sing-along chorus and a more conventional structure, but as I got rid of the chorus and let it breathe, the song suddenly found its feet. It's a bittersweet piece - an ode to lost friendship - but I hope the bitterness doesn't overshadow the sweetness.

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So, the EP is now out and about. What’s next for Bluefox J?

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Our main objective is to put out our first album as soon as possible. Before that, there'll probably be another EP and a few singles. I'm also hoping to put things in order to start playing live too. Watch this space!

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I certainly will. Thanks for stopping by to chat.

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Thanks for your time. Let's do this again soon!