CREATIVE CONVERSATIONS 100: AVALON KANE ON ALL THE 'TRACKS' TRAVELLED SO FAR

Interview by Brooke Gibbs.

Avalon Kane is an experimental electronic musician and songwriter from Kaurna Country, Adelaide. A guitarist, self taught pianist, and synthesiser experimentalist with a focus on sound modulation, Avalon has merged her love of Rock and Roll and Electronic music into her own unique sound.

Avalon has recently released a new single, Tracks, featuring Stu Patterson. This release serves as a personal reflection through life’s paths, holes, crossroads, twists and turns.

Futuremag Music caught up with Avalon following the release of Tracks to talk all things life, music, and the electronic music scene in Adelaide.

FMM: Congrats on the release of Tracks! What has the reaction been like so far?

Avalon: Thank you. The reaction has been really positive so far. It's really cool to see how far the song has traveled and all the different places it gets too in the world. I love thinking about what they are doing in all the different countries while they are listening to the track. 

FMM: I understand that Tracks is an expression of a life journey. What was the inspiration behind this release?

Avalon: A bit of a life crisis! ha - well my son had a major birthday and I just had a day where I couldn't get over how quickly the time had gone from when he was born. My head was a mess about it. It made me a little sad as I know he'll be going on his own road soon and our tracks will be different moving forward.

FMM: What are some of the tracks you have traveled on throughout your journey?

Avalon: I've been fortunate to travel to many different places with my family and have had a diverse array of work experiences so far on my journey. I've been a teacher, a fabric designer, created a fashion line, run a pastured egg farm, travelled to Italy, the USA and Finland - it's all made for great content! 

FMM: Any tracks you would like to travel again?

Avalon: I'd do all of them again in a heartbeat. They were all fantastic experiences, but I think they all led me to do what I am doing now and that is the best thing about them all. 

FMM: Which tracks would you like to forget?

Avalon: Some were a bit of a dead end! I guess they all were needed to make me who I am. 

FMM: What have you learned about yourself on these tracks?

Avalon: Resilience. The work experiences taught me resilience. Travelling to other places taught me the resilience of others. 

FMM: Tracks is a very personal song. What is your process from experiencing a life event to then creatively expressing it through song?

Avalon: I find now that I am a songwriter the only way I can really work through a tough event is by writing a song. I just take myself into my studio and play. Tracks did move me to tears when I played it the first time. Sometimes I don't really know how it happens, it just does. It might only be a few notes, for Tracks, it was an unusual scale on my midi instrument pad, and I knew what the song was going to be after I played it. I thought of a clock turning with its hands, then the clock faces turning into wheels while it was turning and that is how the song started forming. I like the fact that you can write deeply personal things in lyrics that only you know too - that's pretty cool.

FMM: You worked with Stu Patterson for this release. How did you know Stu was the perfect match for the project you envisioned?

Avalon: I am a big fan of Stu's work. I love The Empty Threats and Placement and I just heard their voice in my mind as I played the song. Stu's voice is transcendent and I couldn't have asked for anyone better to work with.

FMM: How did this collaboration come about?

Avalon: I  reached out to Stu through an acquaintance and thankfully it all worked out! 

FMM: You’re an experimental electronic musician! What’s the electronic music scene like in Adelaide? Is there anything missing from the scene there?

Avalon: I'm only pretty new to everything here in Adelaide so I'm still on my L's. From what I hear and see, it is pretty awesome. We have Motez who is huge on the scene, and some awesome up and coming, young artists. We have some great venues like The Lab  which is perfect for us electro types. Playing live is my goal and I want to have a visual and audio experience with my sound. I love going a bit crazy on my synth with my mod wheels and patches. I'm eager to try some new things, mod one sound for a crazy amount of time, things like that. My producer Max has joked he is going to make me a crazy huge mod wheel to work on with a tiny little synth - I'd like to see that in action! 

FMM: Do you mind walking me through your music creation process? 

Avalon: The majority of my music starts with experimenting with my synth in my studio. Sometimes I will spend hours going through sounds, twerking them, layering them, just to find that perfect sound. If I have a track with lyrics it generally always comes after the music is done. For me, I always try to get the sound to tell the story, and if there are lyrics then it will be more of a soundscape vibe. I always have my phone close as lyrics pop up all the time. I sing into my phone if I have a lyric melody as I always forget it 5 minutes later. Or, I type it as a poem if the melody isn't there yet or it is fresh. I use my piano a lot too to help with melodies as I love the organic, natural tone of it. 

FMM: What’s your gear setup like?

Avalon: I have my own little studio set up at home to record all my tracks. I have a Studiologic Sledge Synth that is my go too for pretty much everything. I am a big fan of Native Instruments and have their S88 MK2 synth, and use their plug ins all the time. I just bought a Moog Sub 25 Analog Synth which is so cool and great to take to the big studio when I need to work with Max. I have a couple of guitars - my Blackwater Les Paul, and my Dan Electro silver Sparkle. 

FMM: What’s next for you?

Avalon: There will be a lot of new releases in 2023. Big news is that I will be releasing a double album. I have been creating so many tracks and they all tend to be sliding into two distinct categories at the moment. They could all work on one album, but I am feeling they would work better having their own distinct albums that reflect the mood and tone of the tracks. I am excited about it. It will be alot of hard work, but it will be something I will look back on and be extremely proud of.  

FMM: Anything else you would like to add?

Avalon: Thanks so much for the support of my music and for the interview. I really appreciate it!

Hear more from Avalon Kane below!