Track By Track: Robert Muinos guides us through his deeply personal new EP, 'EP3'

The name Robert Muinos might be familiar to local music fans, particularly those who follow Saskwatch (for whom he plays guitar and does backing vocals) or Dorsal Fins as one of a few rotating members, or in solo form, as we're here to talk about today. Last Friday he released his new EP, EP3, a deeply personal and at times heartbreaking collection of five tracks. And while it's all pretty much laid bare on those five tracks, we're fortunate enough to present a track by track on the release from Muinos, digging into the EP's many themes and stories a little deeper. Check it out below, and catch him live launching it at The Old Bar Thursday 28 September, or with Jim Lawrie at The Factory Theatre Friday 20 October.

Weeks At All

This song is the anger I get from seeing people do bad things and still be loved. It's a bad feeling. It's easy to hate people but you just end up hating yourself. So I'm trying to get off board the hate scene these days. I think it's feeling better. You should give it a try!

As If That's Real

I liked the idea of some happy sounding chords under an unhappy story. I just started listening to Sonic Youth and was into songs starting out gentle and ending in noise, all the while the bass and drums staying the same. The song is about a kid who wants to escape the voices in his head by killing himself.

Pillow

I wanted to make a 70s washy folk jam. Something that had a kind of John Martyn vibe. It's the first time I've had backing vocals on a recording of mine. Jim Lawrie who plays drums in the band is the other singer in the chorus. He makes it sound dreamy. I generally like rough and raw production but with this song it felt right to make it a bit shiny.

Mum

My mum has a mental illness. She's had it since before I was born. This song is the some of the earliest memories of my mum. When I was 5 or 6 I had to go to court about my folks divorce. Coca Cola had just brought out a big can, 440ml I think. To me it looked giant. Mum sat at the desk on the other side of the room drinking one of those giant cans with a straw. I could see she was ill. It's funny what you remember as a kid.

Lay Me Down

Alcohol and depression. Wanting to not exist. Hate. Love. This song's just about life really. I recorded the EP at my friend's pub The Curtin. During the day there were sounds of a construction site coming through the walls. Jackhammer sort of stuff. This was the last song I recorded. I did it at night. I ended up doing something stupid like 15 takes because every time I'd get half way through and a loud motorbike would go past and I'd have to start again. On the last take a table of people drinking downstairs let out this massive laugh. I liked how it sounded and there were no motorbikes so we used that take. If you listen closely you can hear people talking downstairs throughout the whole song. It wasn't intentional but I'm glad it's there.

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