Five Favourites with Winston Surfshirt
Winston Surfshirt has just released his hotly anticipated fourth long player, WINSTON. Ahead of the album’s release, we chatted over email with the multi-instrumentalist and vocalist about his new album, the pull of nostalgia and his five favourite R&B bangers.
Tobias Handke // Image supplied
Image supplied
Congrats on the release of WINSTON. First up, is there any significance to the title? Maybe a more personal collection of songs?
You want the truth? I think Surfshirt is stupid and I sometimes feel like the word ‘surf’ is off-putting to some people. I’ve always thought about getting rid of Surfshirt. I don’t surf…
The album name came after the songs. I think Bustlip first suggested it. We wanted something different to another dessert. I think it felt like something so new that it was almost a debut album to me. Self-titling just felt right – simple and clear.
You’ve talked about this album being influenced by music from the late ‘90s and early ‘00s. What is it about that period of music that you connect with, and which artists had a big impact on you and the album?
My sister was two years older than me, so I listened to what she listened to. Aaliyah, TLC, Destiny’s Child, Usher, Jamiroquai, etc.
WINSTON was written with frequent collaborator OSWRLD (Oscar Sharah). Tell me more about your relationship. What does he bring to Winston Surfshirt and how does he get the best out of you and vice versa when it comes to writing and recording?
Oscar is number one, an insane producer. I've worked with so many people and I don’t think I’ve ever been so shocked by someone's ability. I thought I was okay at producing and produced the last three albums. Before I met him, I felt like I was a better songwriter than a producer and maybe my production wasn’t improving as much as my writing. I knew I wanted someone else to produce a full album for me. Meeting Oscar and making two of the songs on the album in our first session, I was like, ‘Poor guy, I’m gonna make him produce my whole album!’ I just felt like it was time to try something new.
Who else did you recruit to help on the production side of things?
Pat Byrne (Beso Palma), whom I met through Oscar, also came on. He was like, ‘I have a friend I might bring to the next session,’ and then suddenly there’s two guys on the same level of production helping me put this album together - then through those boys, I met some other amazing musicians. Brekky Boy played the piano on ‘Spend My Nights’. Never seen someone that good at piano before.
Your last album (Panna Cotta) had a stack of collaborators, but with WINSTON, the special guests are limited. Was it always the plan for this album to focus more on you and your sound?
Yeah. I wanted it to just be me. I love getting features and I will definitely do more. I think part of it, after that experience of getting a feature on every song, was just me being like, 'I can do this’, and sort of prove to myself that I can do this and make something that I love. Musically, I’m on there, but compared to other records, so much of the amazing music is Oscar and Pat. But yeah, as a Winston album, I just wanted it to be Winston.
The album is 11 tracks, clocking in at just over 30 minutes. In a world where albums are becoming overblown, was there a conscious decision to strip it back and present a cohesive collection of songs without overstaying your welcome?
When I started thinking about this album, probably before Panna Cotta was even released, I knew I wanted the next one to be just me, be produced by someone else and I wanted ten songs. Super strong, all singles and I wanted it to have a really strong theme throughout. We added the 11th song really late because the label loved it so much.
READ MORE: Five Favourites with Playlunch
The four singles released so far are fantastic, but the highlight of the three is the latest track ‘One Sugar’. It’s got a real throwback soul vibe. What was your aim with this track?
Honestly, [it’s] probably me and Oscar’s favourite… like the baby to us. [I] think it was written in the first or second session together. The Isley brothers have a song called ‘Here We Go Again’ where the song starts on the three before the one, if that makes sense. I’d tried to mess [around] a few times with the idea I had in my head, but could never make [it] work, so I sang the pattern idea to Oscar. We found some chords, played around until we had a vibe and then the words just all came together. Really naturally, like almost [the] first melodies that came to us were the right ones.
Another standout from the album is ‘Up & Down’. It’s a slinky R&B number with harmonies to die for. Can you expand on the making of this track and what it’s about?
Yeaboiiiii! Again, a funny beat sorta written the same way as ‘One Sugar’. I had a chord pattern that had been playing in my mind that I tried to explain to Oscar - just sat there with him on the guitar [and] me on the keys till we found a pattern we liked. Ten minutes later, the beat is done. We had a few spliffs and wrote words together. As soon as ‘we could go up and down, if you know what I’m saying’ was said, we were both pissing ourselves laughing. Just thought it was funny.
WINSTON has a nostalgic feel throughout while still sounding modern. How do you balance looking back with fresh ideas?
That’s all Oscar. His level of production, the sounds he chooses, mixed with knowing exactly what we were going for. There are two songs on there, ‘Turn Out The Light’ and ‘I Can’t Hide’, that were written before I met Oscar and the original demos were sooooo different. One day I’ll put them out, but that’s where it really shows what he can do. He’d done a version for me where he just replaced my sounds and made it sound better. Then, with both of them, one day he hit me with a random demo where he’d messed about on a completely new version to make it fit the vibe more and I was instantly in love with them.
You’re performing several headline shows to celebrate the release of WINSTON. These are your first Aussie shows in quite a while. Are you excited to get back on stage and play these new songs for audiences?
I can’t wait to get back out. I feel weird not playing shows, so I'm itching to get out and play some live music!
What can fans expect from these shows? Any special guests or surprises you want to tease?
We’ll almost 100% be playing every song from the album. They’re so fun to play live - then we got some banging covers from that era we’ll be throwing in too. Oh, and we’ll play ‘Be About You’ too if that helps…
Is there anything you hope people take away from WINSTON, or are you happy to leave it up to the listener?
Na, you do you. Sad to say goodbye to the album to be honest! But hope ya enjoy it!
WINSTON by Winston Surfshirt is out now. Tickets for his shows are on sale now via winstonsurfshirt.com.
Winston Surfshirt’s five favourite R&B Bangers
Groove Theory – ‘Tell Me’
A serious banger! I could listen to this five times a day.
Maxwell – ‘sumthin sumthin’
Suh good! Such a good groove… I’m listening right now.
Kem – ‘Lie To Me’
OMG! I heard this in an Uber in the States years ago. My Shazam was straight out… Such a tune.
Ashanti – ‘Rock Wit U (Awww Baby)’
Might be my most played song of all time for some reason. Obsessed. Still.
Toni Braxton – ‘He Wasn’t Man Enough’
‘He Wasn’t Man Enough’ Toni Braxton – anything Darkchild (producer) is gold. Or ‘You’re Making Me High’. Both bangers but try to tell me they didn’t leave the metronome on in that song…
