Angus Legg’s debut EP drops today, and I was lucky enough to chat with him about the journey he’s been on, allowing A Long Time Gone to come together. The folk singer-songwriter from Melbourne opened up about everything, from his creative processes and influences to complex relationships, emotions, grief and addiction; this EP is Legg’s most authentic work yet.
In a nutshell, Legg describes the 7-song EP A Long Time Gone as a “short story from start to finish”. He hopes and urges his audience to listen to the EP from top to bottom because it’s been “carefully designed where a lot of songs reference each other”.
“It’s about the last 3 years of my life”, he says, “the first song is called ‘What Did You Start in Me’, which is primarily about me falling in love with my current partner. The second song is called ’12th of May’, which is the date that I left indefinitely to go live in London, and I wasn’t sure if I’d ever see her again”.
“Those two follow my journey, meeting this person, already having this big life plan booked and ready to go. It’s the classic cliché, you meet someone before you go overseas, the timing’s always the worst. It explores how I’m feeling through that”
“The songs in the middle dive a little bit deeper; they’re quite personal. They go into my relationship with alcohol, the challenges that I have faced around that, and how it presented itself while I was away”.
“Then there’s “May All Your Friends Be Artists”, which was a song my father wrote, so it’s actually a cover. He wrote for me before he passed away 10 years ago. You can hear him in the song, too; he recorded it, and my producer basically ripped the vocals off his song and put it on the song we made. The one great use for AI. So, it’s actually me singing with my dad, and it’s got a beautiful message”.
“And to lighten the mood, we touch on friendship. After that, there’s a really upbeat, beautiful song about a huge part of my life, which is my friends. Then the final song is about me coming home, where I ended up back with my partner”.
Though moving to England had its complexities, ups and downs, Legg was able to write and record A Long Time Coming. In an “emotionally exhausting” two-month period Legg had written the entire EP and then produced and mixed it with one of his close friends Jim Alexander. He also described how the writing process allowed him to learn a lot about himself, and that it took a lot of energy to go to those dark, vulnerable places inside of himself.
Not only do the lyrics visit a really vulnerable place, making the tunes personally authentic, Legg also reflected that when everything came together, it just “made sense”.
“This (EP) is exactly where it needed to be musically and artistically, and it made the last nine years of my life pursuing a music career make sense. I’d made great music before, but it wasn’t as real and authentic as this EP is. I think it really comes through, and I hope that people can feel that in it as well”.
Taking influence from his father, Alex Legg, another great storyteller through his folk music, he drew on his Scottish Celtic roots and leaned into them while producing his album. He also drew creative inspiration from Irish indie band Kingfishr and writing notes from Lizzy McAlpine and Noah Kahan, especially his album Stick Season, which “changed (Legg’s) life” upon listening.
When asked what releasing his debut EP means to him, Legg instantly responded with, “It feels like a dream come true”.
“My whole life, I’ve always wanted to be an artist. I’ve always wanted to make music. I’ve always wanted to release a body of work. I never thought I would feel this aligned with something I created. I feel like what I was able to create with the people I created with was so real and authentic”.
But it hasn’t all been smooth sailing; as the EP’s content somewhat suggests, Legg has chosen to take a step back from his music career once A Long Time Gone is released.
The very hard decision came from finding that every moment of Legg’s life was dedicated to being an artist, and “you miss a lot of life doing that”, he says. “Especially in the modern approach which is so content-orientated and so demanding for independent artists”. He explained that he was always trying to think of new, innovative ways to design content, but with the amount of extra stress he was under, he lost a lot of his love for creativity and music. A meeting with a friend helped him realise that he was getting extremely burnt out, which has resulted in him deciding to take a step back from music for a while.
However, it won’t be forever, and Legg will be back to pursue more dreams. He says that when he returns to his music career, “a lot will have to change” and “releasing some of (his) expectations will be really powerful”.
“The way forward for me will be to create more, release more, and focus a lot less on the outcome, like, how many people hear it? Or, how good is my online marketing game? The metrics I want to start using is how good can I make a song? Or, how great can I portray a feeling into music? And how much can I enjoy that experience?”
For his last hurrah Legg will play a gig to celebrate A Long Time Gone and say farewell before going on hiatus from music. It will take place on the 12th of July at the Bergie Bandroom, Melbourne, with support from Mathilde Anne & MUKI.
“It’s going to be really special and hopefully a really emotional evening for people” Legg says.
Grab your tickets here to see the show!
Angus Legg’s debut EP A Long Time Gone is out now, available on all streaming services! Grab a copy HERE.
Photo by Lucinda Goodwin
