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Music

LANKS Shares Beach Houses, an R&B Jam For Holidays and Daydreams

THUMP Premiere of Beach Houses, sweet and sorrowful sounds from Melbourne.

LANKS might be just beginning, but he's already operating on an advanced level. The Melbourne producer (otherwise known as Will Cumming) started out earlier this year with the intricate Thousand Piece Puzzle EP. He's already onto the next challenge, and "Beach Houses" is the result. A crafty combination of soulful songwriting and subtle sound design it's further evidence of a great mind at work. THUMP is pleased to bring you the first listen, and some words of wisdom from Will himself.

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THUMP: We're enjoying the single, and intrigued by the lyrics. What do you mean when you say "Beach Houses and Islands, we ain't gonna find them"?
LANKS: You know when you're 15 and you make all these grand predictions about where you will be when you are 24 and it seems so far away and then somehow you're 24 and you're no longer considered 'young with potential' but are expected to be making those dreams a reality? It was written just days before I put out the first LANKS single in January this year and I was sitting around sketching ideas whilst wondering whether it might have been better to be an investment banker, where I could afford just about anything. What a life huh?

Very interesting reflections. So if we don't find our Beach Houses and Islands, what else is there?
Here comes the silver lining. Things can change very quickly if you work hard and keep learning, and since writing this song my life really has surprised me and taken an amazingly positive turn. Music doesn't really make you a lot of money (until you're Kanye) but I've had so many amazing experiences this year and met so many amazing people that I don't really care much about that. I just love creating and experiencing art, and am so inspired by all the artists I have been able to play with this year, like The Acid or Broods. There's a lot of great stuff out there.

What are some of the main ideas you're interested in exploring working as LANKS?
With LANKS I tried writing more narrative-driven stories, dark versions of children's poetry almost. There was a lot of that on my debut EP that came out in June, and they were often very Tarantino-esque stories and fables that have lots of sword-weilding ex girlfriends.The next EP is a little bit more personal and raw at times. I always liked sad songs more than happy songs for some reason. Lyrics aside, one of the main ideas I am trying to explore with LANKS is mood. The songs all feel so cinematic to me and I feel like every song is the soundtrack to a very specific feeling or scene within your life or a film, but usually conjure up lots of different images for me and hopefully the listener.

You've mentioned that you admire risk-taking in other artists - how do you go about applying this to your own work?
I think risk-taking is the most important thing for an artist to do. If we stop taking risks we stop learning. Getting out of your comfort zone is the hardest thing to do but also the most rewarding I believe. Creating this song was a risk, it is essentially a hip hop track with R&B vibes, layered with orchestral flute textures - I have played flute since I was 10. It's a bit of a step away from my first releases, but I really don't like staying in the same place for too long, it gets boring to me. I'm always looking for a new challenge, so I just went for it.

Follow LANKS on his further adventures into the unknown via his website here