Tasmanian singer-songwriter Marcus Wynwood is not one to be put in a box. Formerly a member of punk act Captives, his latest EP Never Stood Out and Never Fit In – independently released 17 October – is a mixed bag of backyard wisdom and playful experimentation.
The seven-track project is a self-produced collection of densely textured songs in a range of styles, from folk to garage, with a sort of bedroom charm. It features collaborations with Andrew Sulzberger of The Bad Dad Orchestra, Sheyana Wijesingha of The Sheyana Band, and prominent harpist Emily Sanzaro. Comprised of delicate picking, blistering riffs and sampled soundscapes, Never Stood Out and Never Fit In is his finest and most eclectic work yet.
To celebrate the release, we caught up with Marcus to chat about the EP, Tasmania, and more.
Congratulations on your new EP Never Stood Out and Never Fit In! How does it feel to have more music out in the world, and how has it been received so far?
Thanks. It’s nice having some new music out there. It’s good to keep the whole creative ball rolling, and to see where it wants to go. I’ve worked on these songs over the last year or more, and now that they’re out it’s been nice hearing what people think of them with fresh ears.
They are all so different, so different people seem to make a connection with different songs, which is fantastic. I really love the whole songwriting and production process, along with performing – that’s the part I find exciting and rewarding.
You produced the project yourself using a number of analog recording and production techniques, which is quite impressive. What inspired this creative approach?
I love exploring sounds and it’s just fun. I first started recording when I was a kid with two cassette players facing one another, and later I saved up to get a Tascam 4-track tape recorder. These days I have a modest home studio, but I still enjoy sending things out to outboard gear or a tape machine to mess them up a little bit.
I find the conventional idea of “perfection” boring. It’s got to be a little bit wrong or a little bit unexpected to be interesting. Plato had an idea he called the Theory of Forms, and part of that is that we live in an imperfect physical realm, and there is another realm made up of perfect abstract versions of things. I think beauty and interest can be found in the differences between the perfect and the real.
It explores a broad range of musical styles and elements, blending folk and garage with live and programmed samples. How did it all come together?
When writing this EP I tried to let the musical and lyrical ideas guide the songs. Rather than saying “I’m going to make a punk EP,” or “I’m going to make an acoustic EP,” I just let the songs go where they felt they needed to go. The result was that some tracks, like “White Boy”, are a loud, yelling, wall of sound, while others such as “Cabbage” are more chill sounding. I spent a long time getting the track order right, so I hope the EP makes sense as one coherent piece of work.
There are natural soundscapes throughout, particularly in “Never Left the Ground” and “Disjointed Digitalised”. Were these recorded around your hometown in Penguin?
Yes, you can hear the sounds of Penguin in the music. In particular “Disjointed Digitalised” has the sound of the waves from the beach on the main street. I recorded it on my phone while I was downtown one day, and it became the base for the whole track running all the way through it. I’m not sure why I felt the need to record the waves that day, it just sounded nice.
The title of the EP reflects the diverse sounds and eclectic lyrics therein. How do you use your environment and experience to inform your own brand of storytelling?
On the surface, it feels like my environment doesn’t really affect the songs, but thinking about it more, and from an outsider’s point of view, it probably does. The NW Coast of Tasmania is one of the lowest socioeconomic regions in the country. There are parts that can be pretty rough and tough, but the actual scenery is world class beauty. As I say in “White Boy”, I know my privilege. I grew up in a great family but a lot of my mates didn’t and had a bit of shit going on.
Over the years, I’ve played hundreds of gigs in rough smalltown pubs where the cops have been called to shut the place down, where bouncers have been beaten up, and I even saw a bloke get thrown out a window while I was playing. All this stuff is considered pretty normal, and it’s where I cut my teeth performing. I think my songs contain positive messages of love, belonging, kindness and compassion – and although they are mostly about things that I have directly experienced, I hope people can identify with them.
What challenges and opportunities were you facing at the time of writing Never Stood Out and Never Fit In?
The EP explores the idea of Imposter Syndrome. Sometimes we never feel like we deserve what we’ve got, or we feel like we’re not good enough. Maybe it’s that you feel like no one has really noticed you and what you have to offer. I think this is a feeling that we have all had in one way or another. As an artist these days, it feels like I need to be a “content creator” and make all these stupid little videos and put energy into extra things that take time away from writing and performing.
Who are some of your biggest influences, and what were you listening to when creating the EP?
I actually try not to listen to much music when I’m writing. I feel like it might influence me too much – but that’s probably not necessarily a bad thing. It’s probably nice to try and stay relevant and current by listening to what your contemporaries are up to. My biggest influences have probably been the typical ones like Beatles, Hendrix, Bowie, The Cure, and Radiohead, but more recently I’ve been loving Frank Turner and Ball Park Music (how amazing is their new song “Like Love”?!?).
I do like the slightly weird, too. Cody Chesnutt’s Headphone Masterpiece is a great album, Captain Beefheart, Thelonious Monk. Like I mentioned before, I find “perfect” boring. Anyone can play a song perfectly, I want “interesting”.
You’ll be playing with some big names at Good Gumnuts Festival in Romaine, Tasmania, next January. What can fans expect from your live show?
I am really looking forward to this festival, it’s going to be a good time. On stage it will just be me and my guitar and I’ll yell a few indie-punk-folk tunes at ya! My set will be made up of my most popular songs from over the years, taken from my three EPs and a few unreleased ones.
I’m really looking forward to getting up there, sharing some stories and having a great time seeing all the other amazing artists. Hockey Dad, San Cisco, Alex Lahey, Jack River, Josh Pyke – I mean, what a lineup! I’m stoked to be included.
Never Stood Out and Never Fit In is available to stream everywhere.
Get your tickets to Good Gumnuts Festival and all other upcoming shows to catch these quirky songs live.
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Header photo credit: Hayley Wynwood