TRACK-BY-TRACK: MEGA FÄUNA TAKE US THROUGH 'SOFTMORE'

softmore is out now!

Image: Rahnee Lally.

Australian band, Mega Fäuna have unveiled their debut album, softmore. To celebrate the release, they are taking us through the collection of songs track-by-track...

LIFELIKE

Ellen: I wrote this song after reading The Picture of Dorian Gray. I was thinking about the idea of having a true private self and a constructed public self and what it takes to maintain an image of perfection, especially today in an age where everything is an opportunity to sell yourself or a version of it. If The Picture of Dorian Gray was written today he’d sell his soul for an Instagram account not a painting. It’s maybe less about vanity than the story that inspired it but I guess it’s about figuring out how to live a life that feels real to you and doesn’t just look pretty on the outside.

HEARTBEAT

Freyja: I wanted this song to sound a bit like a heartbeat. And so I started with some guitar stabs and then just smashed out a bunch of lyrics that felt like racy moments in life. Moments that get your heart pumping. It's about the fact that time keeps ticking, life keeps cruising and whether or not we want it to & our bodies just keep doing their secret, magic jobs inside of us without us even thinking about it or trying to control it. It’s kinda cool to think about this inner life that just goes on and on despite the kinda day you are having, despite the words you are saying, the games you are playing, or the emotions you are feeling. It’s a little bit marvelling at the body & a bit about the whirlwind that life can sometimes feel like. Day in day out racing yourself to get everything all done & teetering between feeling like things are staying on track & almost losing a grip. But always it just comes back to that heartbeat that keeps on keeping rhythm despite it all & quietly wondering at what else might be going on beneath all the the skin and muscle and blood.

KISS THE SKY

Freyja: You know that feeling when life feels particularly special? And you’re taking a walk, maybe you’re in a new city on your own, or maybe you are walking in the streets of your neighbourhood in the dark hours where nobody else is awake. And you are experiencing all these wonderful things, and feeling really excited about the world, like potential is everywhere all around you. It almost feels like you have a crush on the whole world & everything in it. And you feel you are reflected in everything around you. Like you could just run really fast, and yell at the top of your lungs, or dance in the rain, or say something bold to a stranger, and even though you are just a blip in the universe, you feel really big and really alive. But sometimes uncertainty creeps in on these times, and you might start to feel a little bit scared, and that's also kinda cool, because it’s a conversation with yourself. You can see yourself and understand something, and feel like there's a little dark challenge in these moments, and when you come back to your kiss the sky energy it makes it all the more powerful a feeling. This song is about that. About feeling alive as hell and not knowing everything but enjoying feeling things and rejoicing in the fact that you will always have your own company if nothing else. It’s a love letter to yourself.

SLEEP DECEIT

Freyja Fox: There's this space between asleep and awake where reality becomes confused. This song is a conversation between a girl and her own head, which isn’t complying with her wishes. The song explores the battle of trying to get over a crush & yet they keep turning up in your dreams despite your best efforts to move on. I felt like my own mind was rebelling against me in a way that was beyond my control, and rather than fight it, this song is about what it would be like to just embrace it, and to let the dream world become reality. Originally the lyrics contained a reference to the character Bastian in The NeverEnding Story who becomes increasingly immersed in a fantasy world, causing him to lose memories of his real life. I really related to this idea.

MAKE BELIEVE

Freyja: This is about being in a relationship with someone who takes you for granted. Where you have lost yourself in someone else. Almost in idolisation and adoration, and feeling that they only value you when you are something to lose, or when they need something. It speaks from a place of anger, and ultimately the protagonist who has been weakened at the opening of the song, finds power in the truth and in their anger and repeatedly haunts the lover with the phrase “it’s gonna get you one day," a kind of karmic taunt that lives on a murderous highway where the night knows that one cannot escape. I find real joy and love in being detached in this way.

THE SUBTLE KNIFE IS A KNIDE USED TO CUT THROUGH DIFFERENT REALITIES

Freyja: The poem had been sitting forgotten in my sketch book. I think in a lot of ways in the story of softmore, it is the opening catalyst for many of the other songs on the album. It is about the kind of love which makes you minimise and shrink yourself, about the intensity of a crush which devours you, which feels exciting and world conquering, but in reality it makes you weak, and takes away your power. It's about love outside oneself, love which directs your mind into sleep deceit, ultimately forcing you to find new skin. Morning poem has a gentle questioning tone about the kind of love that feels eternal and all consuming, and whether it is really good for you. It’s the opening chapter of the story of finding the way back to oneself.

SOFTMORE

Band: We wrote this song from the ground up - starting with a drum beat, adding bass and then the dreamy guitar line, with lyrics last. Not our usual process! It's an ode to staying up all night, throwing caution to the wind, feeling completely carefree and letting go of your inhibitions. We wanted to reference the time between midnight and the sunrise where time feels expansive & you don’t want it to ever end. Imagined in a warm summer field, with music & dancing & the best company, new friends, and nature, with the sky slowly revealing a new day.

NEW SKIN

Lily: I wrote this song about the change of seasons and the passage of time. Small moments that bring you back to yourself, the sun, private joy, a good memory. Moving on and moving forward because time heals most.

UNHELD

Tess: This song began with this incredible dank sluggish baseline from Lucy and drums, and we built the song upward from there. Its about the moment when you choose to get out of a relationship that isn’t serving you.

BB THERE

Freyja: This one is for my sister. It’s a celebration of having a sister and feeling incredibly known, and comforted in the fact that this person is someone that sees you not only for the best parts of you but sees your ugliness and embraces it wholly. The secret language one has with a sibling that has evolved over years of growing up in such close proximity. She knows you better than yourself, she waits impatiently for you to get in the car, she can tell when you are lying. There’s this fierce fire between you which rages, and in the same turn that you can feel incredibly frustrated with one another, just as quickly you can feel overcome with closeness.

WINDOWS DOWN

Freyja: This song is about loving driving with the windows down (duh). It’s my favourite way to travel in a car, and my dream lover is someone who wants to drive forever into the sunset with the aircon off and the windows down. There's a broader metaphor here about transition, about being open to the world around you. Trying to let the world in as much as you can and let it change you. As I get older, I want to remind myself to embrace life, and newness, and let it just sweep across me like the breeze through the open window.

softmore is out now!