Holly Throsby Finds Magic in the Mundane

After almost a decade without releasing new music, Holly Throsby returns with Normal Magic, her sixth studio album following 2017's After A Time.

Featuring the singles 'Missing You', 'Tell Me I'm Done', 'Gallery', 'Hold Please' and 'Wouldn’t It Be Good', the record finds Throsby experimenting with her sound across 10 tracks exploring the simple beauty of everyday life.

Before celebrating the release with a run of East Coast shows this October and November, Throsby chatted with The Note about the making of Normal Magic, the reasons behind her evolving sound and what motivates her to keep creating.

It's been almost 10 years since you last released an album. Why is now the right time for new music from Holly Throsby?

I just felt really excited about music again for the first time in years. I had written some songs that I'd been holding on to, and I wrote a rush of new songs, and I started collaborating with new people and new instruments. Music felt fresh and alive again.

During your time away from the spotlight, you kept creatively busy writing two novels. How have you found the process of writing a novel compared to writing an album?

Writing a novel is very different. Songs are succinct and, for me, very mood-based, very emotional. Novels require more discipline and scope and mental arrangement. But it's so important to create a mood or tone in fiction as well and sustain that across a book.

Were you still writing music during this time, or fully concentrating on your novels?

I find it difficult to do both at once. They are both such immersive processes for me and I become quite obsessive. If I am writing a book, I have tended to be solely focused on that. But I am trying to change and [am] currently attempting to move between mediums more flexibly. I may go insane, let's see.

Let's talk about your new album Normal Magic. Sonically, it's a departure from your previous work. It's much more experimental, incorporating synths, programmed beats, saxophone, banjo and more. What prompted you to change things up with your sound?

I did a lot of demos using beats from a Casiotone and I felt attached to the sound of that as opposed to live drums. There are live drums on the title track from the album and the rest are programmed by my friend Pete Golsby. I think the beats informed the use of so much synth. I was listening to a lot of Krautrock and also Portishead. And then saxophone and banjo – I don't know – why not? Beautiful instruments, kind of weird friends, but they work so well together.

You produced the album yourself. Did taking on that role change the way you approached the songs or give you a different sense of creative freedom?

I have always been heavily involved in production and learnt a lot along the way. It doesn't bring more freedom, but it is more of a challenge. I loved it though. I loved how it all came together with everyone’s different musical sensibilities.

The key idea behind the album is finding beauty and wonder in everyday life. Was that something you had in mind when you began writing, or did the concept reveal itself as the songs took shape?

It's a bit of both. I often find it difficult to articulate what I'm doing until the work is completed or nearing completion. But the title track completed the album for me, even though I wrote a couple more songs after that one. It felt like it was speaking from a place of appreciation and tenderness, and I realised a lot of the songs were speaking with a similar sense of hope. And looking back at some very early songs like 'Gallery' or 'Wouldn't It be Good', there is so much delight in normal magical happenings.

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'Tell Me I’m Done' has been described as the heart of the album and you've spoken about the tension between creative obsession and exhaustion. How much of yourself is reflected in that song?

Oh well, a lot of me is in that song. And I have found that this song resonates a lot with people who are in a similar circumstance to me. I'm quite exhausted. I have a lot of responsibilities, but I want to make creative work. I kind of love being on the edge of creative collapse because the work is so exciting when it's happening. I am hopeful and I am tired and I want people to be kind.

Normal Magic is quite a collaborative effort, with Jordan Ireland (The Middle East), Helen Franzmann (Mess Esque, McKisko), Laura Jean, Oliver Mestitz (The Finks) and Jake Core (Soda Eaves) all involved. Why did you choose to work with them and what impact did they have on the album?

I love all of the musicians who play and sing on this album. It really felt like a dream group of collaborators. Jordan I've known for years and his bass lines on these songs really got me good. Jake is such an interesting guitar player and I love the sounds he gets. Helen and Laura are both old friends and I deeply admire them both as artists and people. I knew I wanted a whole new feeling for this record and I found it – and such a good feeling.

What do you enjoy most about the collaborative process, whether it’s writing or performing?

For me, I most love the collaboration in the recording. Bringing a song to someone and hearing what part they will offer. When Pete would play back my own song with a drum beat he made, it was just so exciting. When Jordan and I would sit down and play a song and he would find a bass line that I never would have expected. It just makes the songs feel forever anew.

You recorded Normal Magic in several homes across the country. Did this have any bearing on the album?

I think the whole album sounds very warm and intimate, like a nice home. I also think there are a lot of very effortless performances on there. Very relaxed. Recording in home environments is just a really calm and friendly way to work. I hate the idea of being in an expensive studio and paying by the hour and always watching the clock.

The record was mixed by Burke Reid in France. Why did you choose to work with him and how did he influence the finished album?

Burke's mixes are amazing. I had worked with him before but only on half an album. And I have been so impressed with the work he has done with The Drones and Julia Jacklin. He's just so talented and the difference between the rough mixes I sent him and his final mixes – it's like he took them to outer space and back. Worlds of difference. I also just love working with him on a personal level. He is opinionated in a really interesting and helpful way. He has ideas and really good reasons for them. I gave him a lot of freedom with these mixes and I think he enjoyed that. I cannot wait to work with him again.

Is there anything you hope people take away from listening to Normal Magic, or is it up to the listener to find their own meaning through your songs?

I think that's the thing about music and all art: people take from it what they will. It's such a personal, subjective thing. 

After more than two decades as an artist, what motivated your return to music, and do you feel like you will continue to write and record more frequently moving forward?

I hope so. The financial reality of being an artist is pretty bleak. That is always in the background. To have enough time to make work and enough money to live: that is the challenge. I will always write and make new work. I don't know if I will always release it or play shows, but I hope I do.

Normal Magic is out now. Listen here. Catch Holly Throsby performing across the East Coast this October and November. Tickets on sale at hollythrosby.com.