A Decade of Glorious Heights: Montaigne Reflects on the Album That Changed Everything

It's hard to believe, but it's been 10 years since the release of Montaigne's critically acclaimed debut album, Glorious Heights. Keen to commemorate the milestone, Montaigne has announced a national tour where she will perform the album in its entirety.

Before hitting the road, the singer-songwriter took some time out of her busy schedule to chat with The Note about all things Glorious Heights, working with David Byrne and her experience creating her first independent album, last year's it’s hard to be a fish.

It’s been 10 years since the release of Glorious Heights. What’s your relationship with the album today?

I owe that album my whole life. I’m very lucky that I broke through with that album, obviously with the investment and hard work of the team around me, and so I’ll always hold it dear to me and be so grateful for Tony (Buchen) and Wonderlick and all those folks who really believed in my talent. In terms of songwriting, art, and experience - I would be unrecognisable to the person who made the album back then. Glorious Heights really memorialises the young adult I was, a person who no longer exists.

Looking back on that period, what are your fondest memories of writing and recording the album?

It was just so awesome to walk from my dilapidated sharehouse in Surry Hills to Tony’s studio at Studios 301, which at the time was located on Mitchell Road in Alexandria, and write songs. That’s not something someone like me was meant to be able to do as a job, and yet there I was at age 19, doing it. It was so formative learning the city as someone who hadn’t spent much time in it, having the new experience of being an independent adult, and having all those experiences while living my dream of making music. Also, Tony is a great cook and would occasionally make these amazing salads for lunch. So yum.

As you mentioned, you were quite young when you entered the studio to record Glorious Heights. Do you remember having any anxiety or fear during the making of the album, or was it all fun and games?

I think not so much because Tony and I already had solid rapport from making my first EP, Life of Montaigne, and I was a relatively confident songwriter then. It was a young sort of unearned confidence but confidence all the same. I think if there was any discomfort, it was me learning when the right moment was to give feedback. Sometimes Tony would be in the middle of exploration and I wouldn’t be vibing it, so I’d speak my mind and be put in my place about allowing him the time to find "The Thing", even if it felt ugly on the way. Every producer has a different workflow and has different preferences about feedback delivery, and that was something I needed to learn at the time.

Speaking of Buchen, who produced the album and has gone on to work with the Smashing Pumpkins, G Flip, Full Flower Moon Band and more, what was he like to work with, and how did he help shape your vision?

Tony was awesome! He is someone who is as headstrong about the end product as I am, and very occasionally that produced friction, but most of the time it meant that what ended up in the final arrangement was really strong, really bold, and really unique. That record is very much a composite of both our DNA and is a really incredible exhibit of Tony’s amazing musicianship and arrangement.

You wrote most of the album but collaborated with Kate Miller-Heidke on ‘Consolation Prize’. How did that come about, and what was she like to work with?

That song arose from one of APRA AMCOS’ songwriting camps called "50 Songs in 5 Days". You get put in a room with a new configuration of people every day and are challenged to finish a song within that session. I’d brought a verse idea I had to Kate, Rob and Georgi and they helped make it into a proper ballad. My songwriting tends to skew quite weird and they helped the song become a bit more universal, emotionally earnest and sing-alongable. And Kate is great! A really nice person and a really brilliant singer-songwriter.

I know it’s hard to choose, but do you have a favourite song from the album or one that resonates with you after all these years?

I think 'Til It Kills Me' is awesome. I really like the chorus of that song. I have no idea how I wrote it, but I think it’s pretty inspired. Also the guitar stuff Tony played on that song is so cool, it goes so hard, and the orchestration behind it makes it feel so epic. I think it plays into my perennial sensibilities the most of any song on the album.

Glorious Heights dropped in 2016 and debuted at #4 on the ARIA Albums Chart, won the ARIA for Breakthrough Artist and received critical acclaim. Did you enjoy the spotlight and positive feedback, or did it add another layer of pressure and increase expectation for what would come next? 

I did enjoy it! I enjoyed it very much. I don’t think I thought about pressure very much at all, to be honest. I never expected I would ever do any of it, so I was just taking it as it came. I started to feel pressure after the pandemic, after I’d gotten a bit used to this life and everything we all knew changed radically. Back then though, I was a lottery winner.

What’s the biggest lesson you took from the making of the album that’s stuck with you over your journey

I don’t think this is something I was "learning" at the time, but in retrospect, it is such a privilege and so expensive to make an album the way I was making it. Now that I’m fully independent and trying to make records on my own, with no financial support, I realise that it was truly a rare experience to work with someone like Tony so closely for so many weeks in beautiful studios with hired session musicians.

I don’t necessarily long to go back to it as I’m enjoying producing my own work, but from time to time I do miss working on things with someone else in that way. Being able to say to each other at the end of the day, "we made something awesome", that’s truly wonderful. It can be quite lonely saying it to yourself about yourself, because you also don’t know if it’s exactly true.

READ MORE: The Velvet Club Turn Heartbreak Into Indie Rock Gold

When you first started thinking about taking the album on the road, did you go back and give Glorious Heights a re-listen? What were your thoughts?

Yes, I did. I think it’s still a great album even though I think some of my songwriting is a bit juvenile. They say not to go too hard on your past songwriting though, especially because there are people who loved it for exactly what it was, and I wouldn’t want to cast aspersions on their taste. So I think it’s perfect just the way it is.

What are you most looking forward to when it comes to touring the record?

The album now exists in nostalgia territory, and as we all know, nostalgia feels amazing. It’s gonna be really awesome sharing the room with a group of people who are just so happy to revisit music that represents a time in their life bygone.

You’re performing the album in its entirety at each show. Are there songs on the album you haven’t played in since its release, or even ones you might never have played live, and if so, is it daunting to play these songs, or are you embracing the challenge?

Yeah! Lots. We haven’t played heaps of those songs live in ages, and so I’m excited to bring them back since they’re all belters. It’s not daunting, it’s just like riding a bicycle. Your body knows how to do it no matter how long it’s been. I will have to refresh on lyrics though. 

The tour makes a stop in Adelaide in August. Do you have fond memories of playing in Adelaide over the years?

Yeah! I especially like coming to Adelaide because my friends the Hilltop Hoods live there. I don’t get to see them much living interstate, but I usually see them when I do shows, so that’s always lovely. I also have a few long-time fans based in Adelaide who appear on my Twitch streams and Discord, and I always get a kick out of seeing them. 

Your career has taken many twists and turns over the past decade, from writing video game scores to livestreaming on YouTube and Twitch, as mentioned. Is there a moment that stands out, be it a career achievement, something you’ve ticked off your bucket list or some advice that’s stuck with you?

The bit of wisdom that I think remains true came from one of my ex-managers, Gregg, who always says that the music industry works in floods and droughts. You’ll have lots of down periods where you’re not making much money, you don’t have the world’s attention, there’s no new music to promote or play. In those times you’ve gotta plan carefully so you don’t run out of money and you don’t disappear on your fans too long.

I feel like I’ve been able to stay in music full-time as long as I have because I’ve been aware of this pattern and because my managers set me up with good financial skills/habits. It means I haven’t spent money irresponsibly and I don’t panic if things seem a bit quiet. I think it’s very important not to panic, and especially not to be seen as panicking in the music industry.

Talking about the things you’ve done, I have to ask about two things I think are incredible: writing songs with David Byrne and sitting for Julia Gutman’s winning portrait for the 2023 Archibald Prize. Can you expand on those two experiences?

Yeah! It’ll never not be crazy that I just sorta know David Byrne and chat with him now. Releasing music with him is probably the greatest achievement of my life and was a pretty seamless process. I just asked him if he’d be keen over email and he thought the music was great and wanted to be a part of it. Things like this have happened in my life so often that I have no choice but to believe that maybe I am consistently talented. It’s a bewildering reality. 

And then sitting for Julia - she’s a friend so she just came to my sharehouse and I sat on the floor and she sketched me for 20 minutes while we chatted about what was going on in our lives. On the other side of the bewildering reality coin - I do think I am very lucky to know Julia. I only know her because she dated someone I was living with previously, that’s how we met. Neither of us really thought that she would win the Archibald, not because of a lack of talent but just because we’re both quite young and not part of the entertainment or art world establishment. I had just gone fully independent when the win was announced, so it was an amazing boon during a time of great uncertainty; maybe a good omen that my career was going to be okay even though I was leaving everything I knew behind. I was definitely riding Julia’s coattails the whole time. She’s an amazing artist.

Having listened to last year’s it’s hard to be a fish (fantastic record), it’s clear you’ve navigated through some tough issues over the past few years (particularly with your family), but there’s a positivity that comes across on the album. Was it a cathartic experience writing and recording it’s hard to be a fish, and do you feel like you are in a good place and are excited to move forward with the next chapter of not only your career as a musician, but life in general?

Thank you! I’m very proud of that record. I wish I had known how to make it cut through to more audiences at the time because I really feel like there are a lot of people out there who would get a lot out of it if they knew it existed. It was my first independent release, so I made a lot of mistakes re: its promotion, I think. But yes, it was a cathartic experience and an extremely positive experience as regards music creation.

I had challenged myself to make a self-produced album within the year, and it was not something I knew I could do at the outset. I’m really pleased with the result. There are definitely technical mix and arrangement things I would change now that I wasn’t knowledgeable about then, but I think the vibes are perfect. Maybe my best songwriting so far as well.

I think I am definitely in a good place with music and my life right now. I think from 2020-2023 I was in this place of, like we were talking about earlier, pressure. Numbers did not go up from my second to my third album and I felt ashamed (as many musicians do when this happens). I’m now in a place where I don’t take success or fan attention for granted, and that is a really good place to be in. 

Finally, once the tour wraps up, what’s next for Montaigne?

Ohhhh boy. A holiday? Definitely a holiday first, if I can manage it, and then maybe getting married? And in and around that, I’m working on my second EP so I hope to have that released next year. I wanna try to do shows overseas as well. But god do I need a holiday!

Catch Montaigne performing at Lion Arts Factory on Friday 14 August. Tickets on sale now via moshtix.com.au.