Tulliah

Tulliah: New single 'Distant Dreams' and upcoming EP Fre$h Hugs

By: Ezzah Rafique | February 13, 2021

Australian singer-songwriter Tulliah shares her new single 'Distant Dreams' and her upcoming EP Fre$h Hugs.

Check out the interview below...

Hi! How have you been so far into the year? Tell us about yourself! What inspired you to pursue music?

Hey! I’m going really well thank you. This year has been surprisingly quite cruisy so far. We still have quite a few restrictions in place but overall Victoria we are going really good with our covid cases. Things are slowly feeling kind of normal again. A bit about me, well I am 19 years old, live on the Mornington Peninsula which is a coastal town in regional Victoria, have a family of 6 and love making tunes.

To someone who hasn't heard your music before, what do you hope they take away from it? What atmosphere are you trying to create with your music?

I hope that would gain some sense of comfort. The instrumentation is mainly acoustic instruments layered with the vocal leading the listener through stories of teenage experiences. I hope that my songs are songs that you would listen to with headphones late at night by yourself. Hopefully they make people become present in the song and capture a moment of fellow feeling.

Your new single, 'Distant Dreams," dropped a few days ago (congrats!), what's the story behind the song?

I was given an old upright piano from my beautiful friend and my parents were moving one of their paintings to the top of the piano. My Mum read out the title that was on the back of it, which was “Distant Dreams”. This song flowed out of me quite freely. It’s about not wanting to break away from your dreams and visions.

What was your favorite memory about creating 'Distant Dreams' and about creating your upcoming EP, 'Fre$h Hugs'?

Distant Dreams used to be a piano ballad with a big climatic bridge. Pretty much all of the songs that I loved were guitar based, so we tried switching out the piano. My favourite part of the creating ‘Distant Dreams’ was when Dean Tuza (producer), my friend Sean and I jammed it out in the recording room with just guitar, piano and light percussion on the drums. It was the first time that we played the song with guitar and the feeling in the room was so amazing. We were all excited because It felt like we were heading in the right direction. There are so many favourite moments in the studio, I loved the whole process. One that stands out is when Dean and I would watch grand designs while on our lunch break. It was our little escape from the songs for a bit after listening to them all day haha. Another one would be sleeping in the studio. I brought my mattress along and a whole heap of meals to last me the week, played music most nights because no one was around to hear me and watched movies. It felt like a little holiday.

Tulliah

How would you describe your creative process especially since you're getting ready to release your EP- 'Fre$h Hugs'- in March?

I usually start my songs with a melody that I quickly capture on voice memos. Then I find the chords and just jam on it and see what happens. But then again writing music can happen anyways. Sometimes that process is completely flipped around.

With your 'Fre$h Hugs', what song are you most looking forward to performing live once we're able to go to concerts and tour?

Victoria has been lucky and there have been some concerts happening around the state. I did my first ever headline show a couple weeks ago and it sold out! It was so much fun and my heart is still full from it. I really loved performing “Take it Off Now Boy”. The production is very simple on this one. It is two chords the whole way through with little piano embellishments that pan from left to right, a touch of strings and then just the vocal leading the listener through the story. I also loved performing “Okay”. It’s the most personal song on the EP and I caught people crying in the audience. It’s the best compliment you can get when someone cries when hearing your song.

If you're ever in a creative rut, where do you pull your inspiration from? Is an artist or band who influences your music style?

I just go for walks and listen to podcasts of artists talking about their creative process and breaking down their songs. My fav podcasts are “Broken Records” with Rick Rubin, “Song Exploder” and I've recently recommended “Strong Songs” which is really great.

What's your favorite lyric you've ever written and why does it resonate with you?

One that always gets me when I sing it is. ‘My mother knew that I was holding onto something’. It’s a lyric in my song “okay”. I think that whole song is a bit of a tear jerker for me because it was written so vulnerably.

Who's an artist you wish to collaborate with in the future?

I would loveee to work with Rick Rubin one day, he seems like a legend. Also artists like Thom York, Tame Impala, Aldous Harding and Paul McCartney.

Lastly, how do you want listeners and fans to interpret your music or what do you want them to take away from it?

I would just love for people to feel at ease when listening to my music. Hopefully it has the ability to help people through life things. That’s the ultimate goal.