CREATIVE CONVERSATIONS 106: YORKE WALKS US THROUGH THE YORKE CINEMATIC UNIVERSE
Interview by Sam and Matilda Elliott.
Melbourne-based artist Yorke, has released her sophomore EP, ‘ten feet tall’, showcasing a newfound fearlessness in her songwriting. It’s a creative leap forward for the Australian artist who has been steadily building a cohesive, individual sound. This project is an amalgamation of love, heartbreak, and personal growth told through pulsating, supercharged pop songs.
Yorke is celebrating the release with shows in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
Futuremag Music’s Sam and Matilda Elliott sat down with Yorke to chat about the creative direction of Yorke’s music videos, her ideal date, and the upcoming tour!
Watch the full interview below.
FMM: You’ve been so busy! In the last few months, you’ve released so many amazing music videos, singles and your EP. How are you keeping up with yourself? I feel like you’ve gone from this lockdown, especially in Melbourne, and now it seems like you’re everywhere. So, how are you going?
Yorke: I’m good! I love being busy. I definitely thrive off the chaos. The more going on, the better, I think. It was very busy and it sort of slowed down a bit now that the EP is out now, which is super exciting until obviously next week, when the tour starts and then we get back into gear. But, it’s been very fun and it’s all been stuff that I’m very excited and honoured to be a part of. So, it doesn’t feel like work. It just feels like fun, so yeah, it doesn’t worry me too much.
FMM: I love that! So, you did say that you thrive off chaos, so I guess on the opposite end of the spectrum, how do you find your moments of Zen and clarity? Do you have a special thing you do to wind down?
Yorke: I have just started pilates to try and give myself a bit of Zen moment. I love going for walks in all of the parks around Melbourne. That’s probably a big thing, and going back home to Byron to spend some time with my family is another thing that I love to do is another thing that I love to do to take a moment.
FMM: Byron would be a lot different to Melbourne. What led you to make that move?
Yorke: I was sort of a bit sick of… I feel like everyone goes through the stage of, ‘I need to get out of my hometown,’ and Sydney was probably the easy option because I knew a lot of people there, but I needed to get out of my comfort zone and learn a lot about myself, so i was like, ‘Oh, Melbourne!’ I love it. I don’t love the weather, but I love everything else.
FMM: Look at her, she’s thriving, and we absolutely love to see it! You’ve done some phenomenal stuff and something that we love, and we’ve been watching, are your music videos. We are obsessed. Like Honeymoon, the videos just had this beautiful, cinematic kind of excellence. I almost felt like I was watching a Netflix film. The cinematography was just phenomenal. What inspired this creative direction? There’s even that one where you’re sitting there and there’s some bumper cars in the background and it’s just phenomenal. Whats your creative direction and inspiration for that?
Yorke: We sort of call it the Yorke Cinematic Universe and I guess the music itself is very cinematic and it leads itself very much to what I feel is like a main character, Netflix show, basically. I feel like, if you’ve watched my videos, we sort of aim to make it feel like would want to keep watching it in a short film or movie. They also interconnect to and that’s what we really wanted to achieve with this EP, was the cohesion in the music, but also in the visuals. There’s Easter eggs throughout each video that sort of connect them, which is really fun for people if they are spotting them. I’ve been pretty lucky that the creative director behind it is also my partner, Kyle Caulfield. He did all of the visuals for this EP, cover art and everything. He had such a strong vision for this project and he also knew my truth and wanted to portray that as accurately as possible.
As you were saying, with the Honeymoon video, we built a set and just because we could, which was a very interesting experience. I never want to go to Bunnings again (laughs). I remember one day, I just started crying and bawling. I was like, ‘I don’t want to do this,’ but it turned out great. I’m so happy with how they all turned out.
FMM: Very interesting, and I love that it’s your partner who is also working with you to do the creative direction because as you said, he realy understands your truth and who you are, so you’re both really extrapolating this beautiful artistic piece of showing yourself together. But, I’d like to understand what inspired those visuals. Do you have any directors or films that you love that inspired those visuals? Or is it more an internal collaboration?
Yorke: Yeah, it’s definitely more internal. Obviously Next Life, the song is about the five stages of grief and we wanted to portray that. That sort of leads into I’ll Keep Driving and then Honeymoon. It was more just drawing off lots of 80s and 90s references than anything specific, and lots of focus on location and colour palette and a timeless era that we’re creating and figuring out what the Yorke Universe was rather than sort of taking too much from any films or anything. But, with that being said, we watch a lot of films and I guess everything in a way that we’re watching can be inspiration in that sense.
FMM: Love that. Love that. And the Yorke Universe, it’s been really nice to see it develop and with each video. It almost felt like I knew you, so it was lovely.
Yorke: (laughs). It’s very nice to hear because that is definitely something that we were trying to achieve, to create a friendship through the videos, so I’m glad that worked.
FMM: Is there a bit of a process? Do you find sometimes you’ll have a hit-and-miss moment with creating things? Are you and your partner able to be really honest with thoughts, ideas, that kind of thing? Do you find it better being in a partnership like that, being able to be like, ‘Ooh, that sucks!’ How does that go?
Yorke: (Laughs). I definitely think we’re lucky that it could be that we are at each other’s throats all the time, but we really get it and I think we’re allowed to experiment a lot because we can be like, ‘We’ll just try this and see if it works, and if not, we can do it your way.’ There’s a lot of trust there as well and we’re able to work whatever hours we want to. A lot of the videos have been made at 3am and obviously that couldn’t happen if we didn’t have that. There’s obviously been some times when we’ve sort of pushed back at each other, but it’s always been for the best and we both want what’s best for the project, so it’s always worked.
FMM: With the theme of the video, we have a bit of a silly question, but something that is discussed within our friendship group often, is bad dates. So, we’d love to flip that because no one in our group wants to go rock climbing or bowling (laughs). So, we’d like to know what is a good, ideal date?
Yorke: Gosh, that is so hard. Okay, my favourite date at the moment would probably be to go to yogi or get frozen yogurt. Then, go to a late-night library or a bookstore and grab a book. In Melbourne, there’s this very centralised area where there is all of this in one space that’s open late at night, so it’s easy, but probably not doable if you’re not exactly where this is. But, frozen yogurt and then to the bookstore and then go get a hot chocolate with your book. It’s probably my favourite thing to do at the moment. That, or going on a road trip and then having a little picnic is always a lot of fun. Im a big picnic fan. Ooh, and pottery class. Very Melbourne ,I think.
FMM: Well I think it’s better than bowling. For some reason when bowling is suggested, Im out.
Yorke: I’m terrible. Anything sport-related, I’m like nope.
FMM: (Laughs). Obviously, this was the theme of your Window Shopping video. You’re going on dates with 10 or 23 or something different guys and we love that. We thought it was quite funny. That video itself and the second part of that video, was just crazy in a sense that you built a bedroom in your lounge room. You’re quite the DIYer. What inspires you to create these things and do these things yourself within your own spaces, which makes it so much more authentic too.
Yorke: With the Window Shopping video, it was during the major Covid lockdown when you couldn’t go more than 5km from your house, so we really didn’t have a choice. We could have just done a very basic lockdown video but it was at that time where everyone had done that, and I’d rather not do a video if it’s going to be like that. Kyle suggested that we just build a set and we found that there was a Bunnings within 5km and a prop store and all of these things that allowed it to happen. He had all the gear and I was just like, ‘Hey roommate, please just don’t hate me for these two weeks. It was a lot smaller in scale than the Honeymoon one, but it definitely paved the way for that to be brought into existence that we knew that we could build a set if we wanted to. We were also just bored. It was lockdown. We were like, ‘Should we do a puzzle? Or let’s just build a set.’ It was really cool being able to direct the Joan guys’ part. It was 3am here and they were shooting in Arknasaw. It was a very interesting experience.
FMM: Yeah, the connection of the two was very cool to see how you guys worked together in that little behind-the-scenes moment. What’s your mind like at 3am directing?
Yorke: (Laughs). Yeah, Im out. I’m like, ‘I’ll do whatever.’ No, I think it was also that we had been shooting all day and wrapped at 2am, and then they were shooting their part at 3am. But, you also get wired, I think, from knowing that you’re about to create something really cool and it keeps you going. You’re like, ‘I’ll look back on this in a month and I’ll be in an interview in a year later and they’ll be talking about it, and that’s what makes it worth it.’
FMM: Aww, I love that. I love how we’re just a tiny little bit of that process. In regards to the reception of the video, you’ve had a massive reaction in Japan. Was that someting you anticipated at all? How did that come about? We would love to hear more about that.
Yorke: I was lucky that Joan had quite an active fan base over there and I sort of knew that when they got on board, so I thought that would be cool. Didn’t know what would happen, but it sort of happened gradually that there were a lot of fan videos being made and it sort of just grew and grew. It was really cool watching how it was just rising and so many people were reaching out especially from Japan, saying, ‘I don’t speak English very well, but I’ve learned it, and I want to say how much I love your song.’ I was like, “Ah. Oh, my God. This is why I want to make music.’ I’m very grateful to have been able to have had that connection over there.
FMM: Gorgeous. That’s lovely. So, will we see you off in Japan?
Yorke: I would love to. Yeah, it’s definitely on the cards. If I can afford it, I’ll be there.
FMM: I think your fans in Japan would love that (laughs). So, I guess something we found interesting was a TikTok of yours that we loved. When you hear your own music being played in the wild, in the sense that you’re not the one who put it on, how do you feel about that? Can you also take us back to the first time that’s ever happened?
Yorke: It definitely activates this awkward dancing, but it’s a specific type. I have this one move that I just go back to. I don’t know. It’s absolute panic, but it’s also amazing. The first time, I can’t even think. I was very lucky that growing up, I had a lot of support on local radio because I sort of had some songs out before Yorke was a thing. My song was on the radio a little bit when I was prety young, which was crazy for a young person. So yeah, I was probably walking through a Westfields or something. I know my Dad has walked throguh David Jones and I wasn’t there, but my Mum told me that my song was playing and it was the first time that he had heard it out in the wild and he decided to go to a cashier and say, “That’s my daughter!”
FMM: (Laughs). Aww!
Yorke: It was so cute! I think my Mum was quite embarassed. Very awesome dad.
FMM: Yeah, that’s pretty cute and as far as in the wild, you’ve got your live shows coming up next week. For Yorke fans who haven’t seen you live before, what can they expect?
Yorke: I have such a good feeling about these shows. It’s the first time that I’ve played any of these songs on the EP with a band, so it’s just going to really bring that cinematic energy quite to the max. I’m playing a lot of songs that didn’t make the cut on the EP, which is also really exciting because noone has heard some of them before. I want this EP to feel like a celebration of that, and also just friends hanging out. It’s going to be a lot of fun and I’ve got some amazing supports joining me as well, so I’m really honoured to be able to do it.
FMM: Amazing, and look, we can’t wait!
Yorke: Yeah, I look forward to seeing you at the show.
FMM: Yeah, we’ll be at the front having a boogie. We’ve got food, dopey twins, we’ll be there (laughs).
