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Interview with STACEY CICIVELLI of SELF TALK

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Self Talk

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Melbourne pop rockers Self Talk are making a name for themselves in the indie music scene all around Australia. With the release of their upcoming EP Almost Everything and an Australian tour on the way in August, Self Talk are keeping busy. Lead singer Stacey Cicivelli had a chat with AMNplify about their new releases and more – check it out!

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How did Self Talk form?

We were all in other bands at the time. I was writing a lot of songs that felt like they needed a new project, so I somehow persuaded everyone to start this new band with me. In the beginning I didn’t really know what Self Talk was. I thought we might just record and release a few songs, maybe not even play a show. But here we are now.

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Which tracks would you recommend to someone who’s never listened to Self Talk?

Oh, that’s a tough one. I think, if someone was interested, I’d point them to our newest singles (Bedside Dictionary and Old Habits). That’s us now, that’s the kind of stuff we’ve been writing most recently, and those songs have the stuff we love in them – the hooks, the big choruses, the guitar layers. Hopefully they’d want to explore a bit more after that.

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What can we expect from your upcoming EP, Almost Everything?

I think it’s a really good representation of our own kind of ‘sound’, but also how diverse that can be. There’s a lot of the louder, catchy, pop-rock stuff that we love. But there’s also a few more subtle and mellow moments on there.

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What was the recording process like for this EP?

It was great, I love being in the studio. We worked with Aaron Dobos again, and he’s super easy to work with and knows what we’re going for. He works well with all the different genres we try to squeeze into our songs! I think we were a bit more sure of ourselves this time. We even rewrote one of the songs in the studio – I had the urge to rework this old track the day we started, and we just smashed it out in a few hours. It turned out so well, I’m really proud of that one.

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What’s the inspiration behind your latest single Bedside Dictionary?

It’s a bit of a reflection on those little relationships that don’t last long, don’t get very far, but still sting when they end. You end up missing something you never really had, which I think is a really weird feeling.

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Self Talk

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I’m obsessed with the Almost Everything EP cover – how did that come together?

That photo took me so long to find! I was just trawling through images for hours and hours, waiting for something to jump out at me. When I saw this one, I dunno, there was just something about it. It’s so candid, but so perfect. I just love the look of pure joy on this 1980s mum’s face. Tom Lanyon does all our art and design, and I love everything he does for us. He always gets it right on the first go. We decided to stick with the handwritten theme he’d done for Old Habits, and it just seemed to work really well for the EP art – a bit rough and raw looking, kind of unintentional, like the photo.

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You’ve got an Australian tour coming up next month, are you excited about playing these new songs live?

Yeah, very excited! We haven’t played heaps of shows this year, so I’m feeling pretty restless and keen to get back into it. And it always feels really good to play new songs, it kind of reinvigorates you after playing older songs for a while.

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I saw that you spent some time with Allison Weiss the last time they were in Aus. What was that like?

It was a lot of fun! You know how it can be a bit scary to meet people you admire? You never know what they’re going to be like, and you have no idea what the hell you’ll say to them. But it was just really fun and easy. We ended up talking a lot about our mutual love for Tegan and Sara, reminiscing about all their albums and how important they are. Everyone was so lovely, it was really nice to meet the whole band.

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Are there any artists that have inspired your music-making lately?

When we were in the studio I was listening to ‘WORRY.’ by Jeff Rosenstock, and revisiting ‘The Con’ by Tegan and Sara, one of my favourite albums ever. Seeing Allison Weiss live for the first time in four years or something has definitely been inspiring – I’ve been listening to their stuff heaps since. I’m also really loving the new Waxahatchee album, the guitars and the vocal melodies just really hit me and make me want to write good songs!

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And lastly, what are your plans for the rest of 2017?

We’ve got a few more fun shows booked in, we might put out a video or two. And then we’ll put our heads down and start writing the next Self Talk record.

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Self Talk

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