Big Scary On 'Me & You': 'Referencing Ourselves As An Influence Feels Like A Drake Move'

Early Big Scary

Ha, referencing ourselves as an influence feels like a pretty Drake move. But what I mean by it is that we hadn’t played together for a few years when we started writing our new album Me And You, and we had been having some conversations around “what is Big Scary?” The realisation we had was that Big Scary is the music made uniquely by us two together. And that idea really freed us up to enjoy the making and the fun, and we were relaxed about what naturally came out quickly, rather than labouring over ideas. We really felt during our writing session the agenda-less fun of just making stuff up, like when we first started playing together.

Big Scary, 2010

The Schoolhouse

Every single time we write for a new album we’ve stayed down at this old school house in farmland on Phillip Island, on Boon Wurrung land. So it’s not just an influence on this album, it’s been a mainstay for nearly our whole writing output. There’s something magical about the main room, it’s carpeted with high ceilings, and it makes the drums sound awesome. There’s heaps of room for us to sprawl out, and there are no neighbours so we can play late into the night. Time feels a bit paused when we’re there. And I believe time is one of the most important factors when making music, or, maybe it’s better described as the lack of knowing about where you are in time. And that’s also true of the island in general: there might be cracks appearing but it has bravely withheld gentrification. That’s why I love it. You could definitely get away with wearing uggs to the supermarket.

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NB we filmed the Goodbye Earle Street video here.

Burt Bacharach & Dionne Warwick

We both love Burt’s songwriting. Such lusciously beautiful melodies, and really the exemplar for string arrangements - he gives such a swelling romance to the songs. Dionne Warwick is a favourite singer of mine, and their partnership was so perfect.

Weyes Blood

Me And You is meant to sound timeless, but with a hint of yesteryear. That’s what Weyes Blood does so well. One track’s working title was actually ‘Drug Dealer’ (named after the multiple collaborations Weyes Blood has done with Drugdealer, which is how I first discovered her). Like Burt, she writes lovely romantic melodies, and uses shimmering strings for giddying emotion, which I hope we’ve brought to Me and You.

Sufjan Stevens

Sufjan has been making me cry for seventeen years. I love his quiet, understated delivery playing against restrained and atmospheric instrumentation, but then how he sometimes goes super dramatic and indulgent. He can so simply help us understand the feelings of love, or confusion, or nostalgia, or indifference, that the narrator is feeling. Our album closer You Won’t Always was written for different people – for a lost friend, for my possible future child (it was written before I was pregnant), but also written maybe as a response by Carrie back to Sufjan after Fourth Of July, in an alternate dynamic.