E^ST (Mel Bester to her family) first burst onto the scene back in 2015 with The Alley, a sparse, Lorde-esque tune that made most of us stop in our tracks and gawk at her highly emotive vocals and seemingly effortless songwriting talent, even though she was only in her teens.
Fast forward four years and E^ST has really come into her own following a signing with iconic US-based pop punk label Fueled By Ramen, support slots with Allday, Panic! At The Disco and Twenty One Pilots, and a back-to-back catalogue of big, relatable, incredibly catchy singles.
First Life Goes On captured our attention with its classic piano house riff, I Don't Lack Imagination took a sassy turn, Friends showed us her wholesome side and now, Talk Deep has us once again hooked on Mel's knack for writing earnest, euphoric songs about coming of age that pack a punch.
With E^ST announcing that 2020 will see Mel's debut album hit the world, we caught up with the young artist about Talk Deep, how she's feeling going into her debut album and what signing with one of her favourite labels felt like.
If you loved Talk Deep as much as us here, you can vote for it in the triple j Hottest 100 here.
So congrats on Talk Deep! It’s definitely the most anthemic and uplifting we’ve heard you in a while. Are you feeling good about it and your next chapter?
Yeah, I'm feeling really, really good about it. It’s a bit of a different sound for me, that song, and a different feeling but I love kind of keeping people guessing and you don't really know what sound I'm going to put out next. I don't even really know myself! That was fun, seeing everyone's reaction to it was like, “Damn, she can actually write a fun song.” That's cool.
Talk Deep song went off on the Allday tour!
I know! That blew me away like, all the kids would start clapping along and I was like, “OH! I think they're gonna like it.” It's always so scary putting out new music, so it's always fun to play it at shows beforehand and kind of like, suss whether the people get into it or not.
I know you wrote most of the album in the UK. Was the change of scenery inspiring or did it bring out a different side of you?
Yeah, well, so we started the album in Sydney, actually, it was a week in Sydney. And probably wrote about five or six songs and then I was like, ‘cool, that's an EP,’ and then I remember sitting on it for a while and thinking it's probably time to do an album. So then I went to the UK for probably about a month and worked with Jim Elliot there for a month. And yeah, it is interesting to see how different songs kind of turned out depending on where we wrote them. And some of the songs I kind of wrote on my own as well, or wrote in my mum's garage or on my laptop. Every song does kind of take on its own personality and yeah, I think you can definitely hear the physical surrounding bleeding into it a little bit.
That piano house riff in it reminds me of ‘80s Elton John or something!
Oh my god, that’s the best thing you could ever say to me. I love Elton John so much.
Your name has been around for ages now, first with The Alley you got noticed and then Life Goes On was really huge for you. What’s it been like following up that pressure that everyone has had of you?
Um, yeah, definitely feel that a little bit with Life Goes On, because that's still my biggest song today. But you know what, as soon as you sort of get into that mindset of like, ‘Damn, I need to recreate that moment,’ everything just turns out really contrived. So I guess with this album I consciously just tried to be really present in the songwriting process and also just explore with different sounds. I'm not necessarily going to write another house/emo piano song you know, I kind of had that moment and if it happens again cool, but I'm not gonna go out of my way to try and recreate that and I think that's probably the key to having a good follow-up to what you've already done.
I know you’re a big fan of emo and pop punk, so I know it must’ve been surreal for you to be signed to FBR. Have you had any real star struck “OMG I’ve made it” moments since you signed to them?
Wow. Yeah, I mean, just signing with them was really crazy. Yeah, I had loved that label since I was a kid. But the biggest moment I've had probably was when I toured with Panic! At The Disco last year. It was so, so crazy. And when I was a kid, I always dreamed of doing a cover of Gives You Hell [by All-American Rejects]. I would always sing about to that song, and picture myself in an arena singing that song. And then on tour last year, I decided to cover it in my set. And it was like, ‘oh my god, I'm living out 10-year-old Mel’s dream right now, covering Gives You Hell in an arena opening for a band I’ve loved for years. That was one of my craziest moments for sure.
I briefly met Brendon at the last show and I could not wipe the smile off my face. He has such a contagious, positive energy. The sweetest human ever.
Tell me about the video for Talk Deep, it’s so cool but it sorta looks like the guy in it is dead and you’re dragging him around into lots of situations… do you enjoy filming videos or is it a bit awks?
Yeah he’s dead! Basically I get a little bit upset. He's like, falling asleep on me. And I'm like, ‘dude, I don't want to sleep, like, I want to talk!’ and then I'm kind of bored and then I go, ‘well, I’ll just make some stuff interesting for myself.’
I really enjoy it normally, I guess it depends on the crew that you have and the context of where and how you're filming. But, you know, we filmed Talk Deep with Harry Deadman and I've worked with him before, we’re good friends and so that was really fun and it was a really young and energetic crew, really enthusiastic, and everyone was just lovely to work with so yeah, I felt really comfortable. I had a lot of fun making that video. We shot it in this really wacky house in Brighton actually. With a carpeted bathroom!
Brighton? But the pool is actually sunny!
I know! We actually lucked out and got a sunny day. It was miraculous.
Your album I’m Doing It is due for next year, what can you tell me about it? More happy vibes like Talk Deep, more honest stripped back stuff like Friends?
Well, it's definitely a pretty colourful album. I do feel like every song kind of has its own personality and sound. And yeah, there's a bit of a story to the album, the first half is sort of dealing with a bit of a break up and it's dealing with not feeling very good about yourself in life and feeling like you’re failing at everything, and you're just completely worn out. And then the second half of the album, focuses still on those themes, but more with the attitude of trying to turn it around to yourself and realising that ‘okay, like, I am hurt at the moment, but this isn't going to be forever, and I can make it better for myself.’ So yeah, there's definitely like, moments that fully commit to being heartbroken and feeling really bad about yourself. And then there are other moments that celebrate yourself a bit more and are definitely more fun moments. So yeah, it's kind of documenting my whole year really! My emotions across this entire year. So you can imagine there's a lot in there. Very colourful, colourful album I think.
Amazing! Sounds like a real narrative in it.
Yeah, definitely. And it didn't really happen consciously as well. We were coming towards the end of the songwriting process, and I was like, ‘wait, there's a bit of a trajectory here, a bit of a story, which is really cool. And it's kind of like, was a sign to me that I was growing as well as a human. Yeah, it was really cool.
How good is it that you can look back in 20 years and this album would capture 2019 for you?
Yeah totally, it’s like reading a journal. I hope in 20 years I look back on it and cringe a little bit, that’s my goal, to have grown so much that I find this album cringe-worthy.
Who or what were you listening to while writing this record that you think inspired you?
Oh my god, that's a big question! When we were writing Talk Deep, we were kind of joking that we want to write a song that's like if INXS covered a Katy Perry song! We were just doing all these fun things and we listened to a lot to Robyn actually, because we're both huge fans. I was listening to a lot of folk music as well, always listening to Joni Mitchell. Big Thief as well, Joji as well, he’s a huge influence on me. But yeah, a lot of different sound influences and lyrical influences. Could be like the messiest album ever!
I think eclectic is in. Everyone's albums have a bit of everything nowadays and I think listeners are getting used to that too and it’s almost expected.
Yeah, I was thinking about some of my favourite albums, like Blurryface by Twenty One Pilots, like, every song does sound kind of different and have its own vibe. Thinking of Grace by Jeff Buckley, another favourite of mine and yeah, he just had no fear. He just did whatever he wanted to. I definitely tried to channel that fearlessness and be like, ‘yo, if I want to write a piano ballad, I will. I want to write like, an INXS Katy Perry song, let's do that too,’ you know? Yeah, it's just about committing to your curiosity, I think and hopefully, it all works.
How do you start writing? Do you do lyrics fast or do you normally jot down a melody?
Honestly, it's different every time. With Talk Deep we started with the bass guitar line and then I wrote the chorus hook over it, lyric and melody kind of at the same time, and then sort of built from there. Other songs it could be a title that I had in my mind or a lyric or chord progression. Yeah different every time and it makes it difficult to navigate, but it keeps it interesting!
