gglum on The Garden Dream

Interview & Words by Chloe Abotomey

In the wake of the release of her debut album The Garden Dream Pleaser Australia caught up with gglum to chat about the whirlwind and pressure of a first album, their experience of writing and recording songs in 4 hours and deciding an artists name as a teenager. 

Photo credit: Hermione Sylvester

PleaserAus: Firstly, congratulations on “The Garden Dream”, your album release, how exciting. 

gglum: Aww thank you, it’s been a long time coming. 

PleaserAus: Yeah,  absolutely, and like the first album, that’s a big one right! You have worked so hard towards it.

gglum: Yeah, it’s a bit intimidating as well, you only get to do your first album once. 

PleaserAus: How has the whirlwind around releasing the first album been for you, what has that experience been like? 

gglum: It's been actually quite nice, I thought it was going to be a lot more draining. I kinda thought I was going to maybe have a bit of a meltdown because being perceived by a lot of people can be a bit like “what is going on” but it's been really nice and and the feedback I have been getting has been really nice so yeah it’s been lovely. 

PleaserAus: Oh that's amazing. It must be such a scary thing to really think about putting yourself completely out there and into the world and to be ready to take on whatever feedback or criticism comes back from that. I mean congratulations it’s amazing to have put yourself out there. 

PleaserAus: So I read that you went into the studio with no formal plan! Do you usually embody the “chaotic artist” persona when it comes to recording or was it a bit of a change up from your usual process?

gglum: I think, I have always kind of (done that). What I do is I go through periods of like not really writing any music, it’s almost like I am charging or something. I’m kind of like, filling up a bit, then I’ll go into the studio kind of blindly. On the way there, on the bus on on the tube or something I’ll be listening to a bunch of, I’ll just like make like an inspiration playlist and I’ll listen to that then I’ll go in and figure out what kind of thing I want to go for. So it’s like on the day kind of thing. I think it keeps it exciting I’m quite an impatient person so I try and get like most of the song done like on the day so it needs to be quite like, feel fresh and stuff. So the chaos is kind of essential for me i think, to write stuff.

PleaserAus: You mix a variety of genres into such a harmonious sound creating a full record that aligns so well yet, each song feels fresh and unexpected when you listen to it start to finish. Was this a really conscious decision or was it just one of the happy accidents? 

gglum: I don’t like being cornered into just one kind of like genre of music or anything. I find I always want to be doing wildly different things which is kind of a bit conflicting so it was quite important to me to be able to keep it exciting to be able to bounce around a bit but also I really wanted to build a world with this album where it feels like everything is living in the same place. I kind of imagine it as like opening a door into a series of rooms that you are going through then closing the door behind you…and every room is like a different themed room like that was something that was important to me. 

PleaserAus: Yeah, sure you can totally get that from listening through that was kind of my take. It was almost like a journey start to end, like you go in and you dont really know whats coming next but still very much a cohesive work and still sounded bery much you just so different between each song. 

gglum: Oh yay, I’m glad it worked! 

PleaserAus: What does your creative process look like considering each song has so many layers to each song and as a record on the whole?

gglum: I used to maybe like write by myself and then bring it into the studio but as time has gone on I actually really enjoy just going in and writing stuff with people. So I’ll get to the studio, we will like hang out for a couple of hours just chatting and stuff and then Ill usually like pick up a guitar and have a little fiddle around for chords. And then after that its kind of like whatever we feel it is going towards, like we will chuck in back and forth. Then we will start actually recording stuff in. And then ill kind of like, its weird I kind of black out and just be running around the studio finding the little bits that i think it needs and just recording bits in really quickly. Then once Ive gotten to a place where I feel very good about what is there, sort of like the vibe or structure we have got, I’ll like hide at the back of the room, on a sofa or something and just like write down some lyrics really quickly. And then I wont show who I am writing with the lyrics until im recording them in. l have to record it in and then I need to hear it back to see if it makes sense and then we just keep on building after that. Just do all the vocal stuff and more and more layers. So yeah its a pretty quick process and usually we will have a song done basically to completion in about 4-5 hours. Like I need it to be a really quick process because if its not quick then I start to think that its not going to work. Like if it feels difficult to make a song then its not good or interesting. So yeah I like to work very quickly just because it keeps it exciting. 

PleaserAus: Yeah for sure, that totally makes sense to me, like I can really relate to that on a creative level. Your music feels so sincere and honest, you really allow your audience to feel your experiences throughout the songs. Is this something that is really important to you as a musician or just something that just happened? 

gglum: I think, so I have kind of realised with this album that I just really want to connect with people like, in every facet of my life even like just in my personal life everything is me trying to like reach out and relate to people or get people to relate to me. So I think unconsciously it is when I am writing music, trying to get people to feel or at least get what I am talking about. I also like dont want what I am saying to be alienating I want it to be something that people can immediately find in someway, relates to them.

PleaserAus: Yeah like quite a universal experience I guess. Obviously your the he UK and  I am down here in Australia yet its still really relatable and the things that you explore through your music, they just are really relatable, just as humans. I love that about teh album, like with each song you can almost find yourself in, even if its not the exact same experience. 

gglum: Yeah, its also really interesting to see how people interpret different things. I saw some guy saying the first song ‘With you’ in his opinion he really relates to it because it was about a toxic relationship when its actually about a really healthy relationship in my head. Its was very interesting to see how everyone intereprets it. Its quite fun I quite like it.

PleaserAus: Also I have been wanting to know, gglum, how did you kind of come up with that moniker or stage name?

gglum: I was 17 I think, and we had just gone into lockdown so I had a lot of time to sit and feel sorry for myself. The first song I wrote had glum in it twice and I was like that sums it up. I like the word, but also there was someone at school that I had a crush on who had a four letter artist name beginning with a g, and I was like…. They are going to know, it was a bit embarrassing. I was probably overthinking it so I just added another g to be inconspicuous . It was extremely teenagery the way the name came about. 

PleaserAus: I also have to ask, tour plans! Do you have any? 

gglum: There are some things in the works but I dont want to jinx anything. But hopefully I’ll be going to visit some places I havent been to before. 

PleaserAus: That sounds very exciting then! All of us down here are really hoping that you make it this side of the world. 

Gglum: I would love that, one day one day!