Muse Mondays - Akurei

Maisie Budinger
Aug 26, 2019
6 min read

Updated: Jul 18, 2022

On a fresh Tuesday eve I had a sit down with singer, songwriter, producer and all rounder artist Akurei; accompanied by a cold bev and a lot of chit- chat. To get the down low on what we discussed and everything in-between, have a scroll below!

MB: If you were describing your music to someone who has never listened before, what three words would you use?

Akurei: Rumination, guitar and electronic.

Where and when did your love for all things music begin?

I was in grade 5 and one of my older friends had gotten a scholarship for the tenor saxophone, I thought that was really cool for some reason and wanted to do the same so I ended up getting a scholarship for that. The tenor saxophone ended up being my hobby, whilst others were playing sports at school. Then when I was in grade 7 I started playing guitar and my friend Mike asked me to play the bass in his band; we wanted to make songs like green day (American idiot prime time) . After purchasing a bass guitar that is when music became this exciting thing where I had more of a dream for it and from the age of 16-21 I played in a metal band with a few friends where we toured and did things somewhat professionally which was fun. Then I started writing music by myself for the first time with an acoustic guitar and that was around the time I met Max from Golden Vessel and I started getting into the more electronic side of music and have been doing that since!

That’s a really pure back story though! Yep some people have some really cool stories about how their parents showed them the Beatles when they were three.

True, you would rather have a relatable story to tell than a typical cliche one huh.

Tell us about your latest single Hollow?

So Hollow was the last song I wrote on a solo trip to Europe where I wrote four songs. I got to Bali at the end of the trip and was so stressed and anxious but I was around friends who are pretty healthy and relaxed to be around; Hollow came from that place where I had a lot of time to think about the things that had been making me anxious.

Yep, so more of a safe space especially if you had been solo for weeks in foreign countries! Being around your pals would feel like home.

Yeah definitely, really safe!

It was about how I grew up with a degree of faith in my life as a Christian and that has just changed as I have grown older and become an adult and that’s what Hollow is about. Me re-evaluating that trying to figure it all out.

( images sourced from https://www.instagram.com/_akurei/ )

What is the best piece of advice you ever received? I feel like there’s been a few good pieces of advice I’ve had. There’s like this thing that me and a couple of my friends have been thinking about lately, and I think it’s like that when you’re trying to write and release music at the moment it’s where the industry is at with Spotify, play-listing and stuff it’s so hard you get so caught up with trying to write the perfect song, with the perfect hook, making it captivating and catching people’s attention at the right time. But I think in the midst of that, I at least felt that I lost the ability to say what I wanted to say, tell an honest story and communicate how I felt.

I think at the moment the people I am surrounded by and myself are trying to come back to that. Just the songs and music I connect to the most are like these really vulnerable pieces of art and yeah it’s easy to get discouraged I think and try write the perfect polished song but I’d rather be an artist that writes honest stories.

When you are looking to get inspired you…?

Ummm travel!

Travel to Europe by yourself you mean!

Yep if I’m in a spot where I’m not writing anything or I’ve got nothing to write about or feeling un-inspired ; I tend to listen to new music, old music that I have previously found inspiring, just generally travelling and living I guess. Sometimes it’s not like farming experiences to write about but I do get to the point where I’m like ok I’ve gotta get out of the cave and like live a bit and then maybe I’ll have something to say.

That’s a great way to think and act though. If you could invite any three people from history, dead or alive to come to a gig, who would they be?

Oh that’s such a good question. I wanna say Jesus, just because like if there’s anyone in history that like is one of the most controversial pivotal people Jesus would be it.

The other two would be Frank Ocean and Justin Vernon, if I’m not trying to think about ancient history to much.

Yeah what a trio of attendees!

Each song of yours has such a diverse sound to it, more of a dreamy driving through the country with no agenda vibe. Is there a certain finished sound you aim for whilst putting together a new tune?

I think when I first make an idea I generally just try to like blurt it out. I think that probably just comes from my influences, like I really connect with music that I can listen too, on a drive or while I’m cooking. Like I really love Franks album Endless for that. I feel like I’ve done everything to that album.

( video sourced from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNCW-lb6F7U )

If you could have anyone feature on your next track who would it be and why?

Hmm I’d love to maybe not feature but to write with someone like Matt Healy. Even just get in a room with him and to have his input on my music.

What are your production and writing processes like?

I only started producing a few years ago, so a couple of songs I’ve put out up until this point I’ve only produced two or three of them entirely by myself and they have been co-produced by Max from Golden Vessel. But production is something I'm still working on, I think I feel a lot more competent than I did a year ago but as far as my process with that, with song writing I am always jotting stuff down in my phone I guess, more so thoughts and ideas and places and feelings. Then with production the melodies I record most of them on my phone and the guitar parts I just drop them in and work with them. It is always different though, sometimes it starts with chords and then i'll kind of sing some nonsense and then I’ll look at the thoughts and anything I've written down and then some of them will slot in and feel like it’s meant to be there type of thing!

So the music I am working on at the moment is probably interesting because I wrote all of it last year in Europe by myself and just sort of blurted it out, and the past few months I really come back and like had the songs, the stories and the melodies and then re-built a lot of the production up around them.

So you have the concrete down as they say!

Yup I have the framework there and I’ve really like been able to turn every stone and figure that out. It’s been really good for me.

That is really cool though, some artists don’t actually have that freedom.

Yeah it’s kinda become this thing of that some people just throw some stuff down into the computer and it sounds sick, but that’s like not me. It's more I have songs that I believe in and labour of love on the production side I guess!

Completely, Slow and Steady wins the race.

What does the rest of 2019 have in store for you?

I have an EP out in October! I’ll also be touring Golden Vessel in September, we are doing Australia and New Zealand. I have been pretty uninspired by my live show but I'm opening the Brisbane leg of the tour which will be cool and I am re arranging a lot of songs for that. Basically a lot of new music that I'm trying to figure out for next year!

Sounds like a superb way to end the year!

Performing @ festivals or intimate gigs?

Intimate gigs for sure

RNB or Jazz?

Jazz, Rnb exhausts me after a while. It’s so like emotive.

Most used Emoji?

Ahhh this is super scary isn’t it...It’s the eye rolling Emoji

Last thing you googled?

KFC menu. Look. I was on my way and I was really hungry and wanted to choose the healthiest thing from KFC. I didn’t even end up eating there sooo.

Love that. Dream venue to perform in? In Australia I’d love to play at the Opera house. Just the things I’ve seen there have been so beautiful.