Matt Corby has been out of the public eye for a little over a year. Maybe it’s the fact that he just became a parent, moved house, and put together a record. Little is known about Rainbow Valley as of yet. This is the part where he explains himself.
Corby and his partner recently moved into a northern NSW property, named Rainbow Valley. “It was named before we moved in by the previous owner – an insane gardener, who spent all of his time at the house. He built this incredible sanctuary. We moved in because it has this separate little space, away from the house, which we thought would be perfect for recording.”
In what became an instant love affair, Corby made an offer for the property, and the concept of Rainbow Valley was born. “Without Rainbow Valley, the property, this album wouldn’t have happened. Especially with an album that feels the way this feels … the second I saw [this place] I thought ‘this is the place to be’ and I really wanted to get cracking on some new material.”
Prior to its inception, Corby wasn’t intending on creating a full album. “I spent about eight months with my buddy [producer] Alex Henriksson who I worked with on Telluric. We experimented and made beats. Every now and then a song would come out. We were just having fun and getting an interesting palate and sound together,” he says.
“From that experience, a few songs were written and I wasn’t really considering making a full record. After that, I ended up writing a few songs with [New Zealand musician] Dann Hume, and I was like ‘there’s a lot of interesting stuff here but a few of these need to be finished’.”
On this record, Corby takes on a significant role creatively – playing all the instruments, and singing all the vocals, while Hume and [producer] Matthew Neighbour took charge of putting it all together.
“It was just me smashing a whole bunch of stuff in there, going like ‘oh yeah, that sounds great’ or ‘oh no that sounds like balls’.” Corby kept working on different ideas. “That way I could try something else, try another thing, and eventually strike gold. Soon we’d be happy and unanimously we moved onto the next thing. They had a really good understanding of what I was trying to accomplish the whole time, and we all had a common goal.”
That common goal was brought to life with ease, likely due to the lessons Corby, Hume and Neighbour learnt from Telluric. “It makes you ruthless. You can’t over-think things, because if you get stuck in that hole, you end up just scrapping songs. We ran with the concept of being as simple and productive as possible with each part. Telluric was a very busy record, so it was nice to simplify.”
Corby found this to be a pressuring experience. “It was actually quite fun working like that, because it was merely based on instinct. I never really got to a point where I was freaking out, or over-thinking something and destroying it in the process,” he adds. “I think I’m really good at that – having a really cool idea and completely fucking with it until it’s in a thousand pieces, and making it completely unrecognisable because it’s just not the same anymore.”
A turning point in Corby’s life has been the birth of his child, and the lauded songwriter draws musical inspiration from his son. “You can live vicariously through kids, experience the world for the first time like they are. There’s an element of that which I’ve adopted just by being around him. I think he’s actually helped me adjust my attitude to a lot of things in life.
“I don’t get to spend as much time making music because babies are demanding, but he [Corby’s son] makes me make it count when I get time to do it.” 2018 has been a big learning curve mentally for Corby. “Everyone has moments in their life, where they’re just like ‘what the fuck?’ but it’s been a pretty big year for growth. Obviously having kids puts you under a lot of pressure. I can barely remember my old self to be honest.
“It’s sort of like you get born again, in a nonreligious way. But, having a kid, and making a record at the same time, puts you under pressure – like ‘you need to be like a good dad’. There’s been a few moments where it feels like I don’t know how I’m going to get there, but I’m keeping my head above water. And you’ve got to take care of yourself.”
A hard-working musician, Corby hasn’t always made time away from music, but he’s found a way to truly attach to music when he needs to. This has been a journey for Matt Corby, one of development and growth, both musically and personally.
“Most of my life, music has been the number one focus. And now it sort of doesn’t fit in that category anymore – it’s really important, but, it’s not as important as my child,” he adds. “When I come back to music, I’m then a lot happier and it’s not like I’m constantly exposing myself to only music, and then getting really annoyed about it, or getting hard on myself.”
