Marlon Williams on writing his second release and testing new waters
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Marlon Williams on writing his second release and testing new waters

“I’m starting to try to self-analyse a bit more and be a bit more pragmatic. I’ve been trying to get inside myself a bit more for the next album.”

After a year of constant international touring, Marlon Williams is finally taking a well-deserved break to write his highly anticipated sophomore release.

“I’ve been home about a month now so I’ve been really trying to get used to the mundane day-to-day life, which you really start to crave when you are touring all the time. Things like hanging out the washing and making lunch at home, it’s the simple things you miss. But that’s all part of the process of trying to get my mind to explore new things, and it’s paying off. I’m starting to make some progress. I’m such a sporadic writer, but when I take a break I find the flow starts to get back in my head and then I’m ready for movement again,” Marlon says.

“When you’ve been touring heaps and then you have a break, you get pretty ancy pretty quickly so I’m looking forward to it, I can’t wait to get back on tour!”

Finding his way into music at a young age as a choirboy in New Zealand, it wasn’t until the end of high school when Marlon began making music with his first band The Unfaithful Ways. Alongside his band project, he also became one half of a duo with acclaimed country singer Delany Davidson. When these projects ceased, Marlon decided to go in the direction of a solo artist.

“I think it was always going to be that way. When The Unfaithful Ways disbanded I was about 18. I had already started working with Delany a little bit and we started making albums together. At that point, he had come from a lengthy career as a solo artist so I got a lot of inspiration from watching him work as a lone wolf. I just got this glimmer of what it would be like to be a solo artist travelling the world and that really helped pave the way for me.”

Marlon released his self-titled album in 2015 to immense critical acclaim, selling over 30,000 albums worldwide and received a lot of positive attention for its unique style of lyrics. Throughout the album, Marlon wrote each song from a perspective of a different person, individually telling their different tales.

“I feel like as a song writer it might be cheating, but it’s easier to have mouth pieces or separate vehicles for your ideas. I find writing in the first person a really confronting thing to do. What I meant by that [writing from different characters], is that it’s more so an exercise in exploring different perspectives on things. Obviously my own perspectives influence my thoughts, but when you think through the eyes of someone else it seems like a cleaner break in some ways.

“I had no idea what to expect [from the debut release]. I never really do and that’s why I’m so terrified all the time. Things just happen, and then I kind of have to assess how I feel about it. I’ll just keep doing what I do, and if good reviews continue to happen then great, but if it doesn’t then that’s cool too. I’m enjoying the process of making music. I don’t have any expectations moving forward, but it’s been really nice having such a positive response so far.”

Now approaching his second release, Marlon is focusing on writing from his own perspectives and experiences, from travelling around America via greyhound bus and spending the last of his money on a guitar in Nashville, to now travelling the world playing massive festivals and scoring international television appearances.
Experiencing more than most 26 year olds, Marlon recalls one of his most interesting experiences was performing across America, which has a widespread fan base around the folk and country scene.

“It’s really interesting. Taking what you would loosely call ‘country’ music to America; it’s an interesting exercise. There are a lot of questions that I get like ‘how I get into this genre of music?’ and it’s kind of like, ‘well, you know, the internet and stuff’.

“Music is pretty global nowadays, but seeing the differences that different audiences see and feel, based on their personal identity or relationships to a style of music, is pretty crazy. It definitely changes depending on where you are at in the world, and I feel America is a great place to test the waters to find different understandings.”

When & Where: Port Fairy Folk Festival, Port Fairy – March 10 – 13 2017

Written by Alex Callan