EP Walkthrough: Hector Morlet - Music for Squares

Less than a year since his debut single and six months since we got to know him, Hector Morlet has readied his first EP, Music for Squares. Packed to the brim with addictive melodies that shine through the effortlessly chill, lofi production, Music for Squares draws on elements from jazz, r&b and soft as warm synths meet mellow, head nodding beats, with Morlet’s vocals floating throughout.

Morlet expands “I want ‘Music for Squares’ to jab at the listener: ‘PAY ATTENTION!’ I want the harmony totwist and knot their emotions together. I want the melodies to prick their ears and thedrums to move them. I want the lyrics to bring them into a space as much their own as it ismine. But I wouldn’t take it too seriously. Most of all, the EP explores sincerity and frivolityand not much in between”

To get the full lowdown on the EP, Hector walked us through the story behind each track - have a listen and get to know below!

Surprise!

Not long ago, I called my partner on the phone when she was visiting her mum in her home town. She said that she woke up the previous night to some scratching followed by a soft thud. Downstairs, she was shocked to find that a scared little possum had fallen down the chimney into the (luckily unlit) fireplace. And I thought: that’s you! I was thinking about how one night so long ago turned into such a beautiful part of my life. What a terrific surprise! But unlike the possum, she is welcome to stay.

Picture Frame

Picture Frame was the first song that I felt like I wanted to release ‘properly’. I played the keyboard riff repetitively and I could hear the beat in my head. I listened to it over and over and eventually the melody of the verse came out. At the time my life felt very repetitive, but I didn’t think it was necessarily a bad thing. I just felt like I could see the same experiences/feelings/thoughts cycling as the time, each week framing a picture that was just a little different each time. Sounds pessimistic but it really wasn’t… I decided I wanted to make a mellotron-style instrument using the clarinet, so I recorded all the clarinet notes I could play and arranged them into a midi instrument. That’s what you’ll hear on the chorus.

Precious Dragonfly

Precious Dragonfly describes a relationship as fragile as a dragonfly sitting in the palm of a hand. The song circles a pretty simple thought and I guess it’s about forgiveness, but I wanted to match these emotions with some instrumentation. The verses make dramatic harmonic changes with an accusatory tone, but then the rhythm starts going a bit funny and the song takes on a new tone: rolling and triumphant. The drums run away with fast triplets and the other instruments make striding stabs and an orchestral melody, while the vocals glide over the top. The chorus uproots my overly dramatic train of thought with the simple image of a hardy cactus in bloom and an affirmation: I still love you. Aw

Party…ahaha

We like to party! - Vengaboys

This song is about fun. We all like fun, but if you haven’t felt a little shaky anticipation before a party then you should probably quit while you’re ahead! HA ha ha. But yeah this song is a kind of half-baked expression of the anticipation, excitement and joy of a party, but also the uneasiness and pressure to meet the mood of the party. I wrote the bass line, chords and melody in a riff that I played over and over on my wee upright piano that I love so much.

Staying Up Late

This is a very personal song about my family: Everyone seems to have their issues, but no one talks about it. I think this is the first one on the EP that I wrote. It was just after a bought a Yamaha TX7 off eBay and I was stoked that it actually worked! To my delight, I found that it reacted really expressively when I pressed the keys faster or slower or pressed them in to trigger the aftertouch of my midi keyboard. I was also listening to Nate Smith’s album ‘Pocket Change’ (it’s just drum beats!) a whole lot.

Goodbye My Dear

One time, my friend and I got home after a long night out but we weren’t ready to go to sleep. It was an hour or two until sunrise so we went for a walk. We walked down the street, up and over a hill, through a park and sat down on the bank of the Swan River. We didn’t talk much, just sat side by side and looked at an old blue sailboat that was floating around its mooring, and the far away hills looking over the other side of the river. We stripped to our undies and swam out to the boat and pulled ourselves up to sit on it. We sat and chuckled for a moment, squished together on the back step of the boat while the sun rose over the hills and started lighting up the shore. It finally got too cold and we swam back to the shore and put our clothes on over our wet, salty, slimy bodies. ‘Goodbye My Dear’ is about the pain of losing someone along with all of the beautiful memories that we shared.

Thanks,

Hector

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