Interview by Kris Peters
The beauty of being a solo artist is the complete freedom of total creativity.
While the burden can weigh too heavily on some performers, not so New Zealand-born and Melbourne-based multi-instrumentalist Rachel Trainor, who releases her debut album The Way Back Down under the name Nighteyes on November 10.
A sonic tapestry combining dark rock, folk and electronica, The Way Back Down portrays a plethora of emotions, culminating in somewhat of a musical journey as told through the songs of Trainor.
Trainor, who also has a history in circus and cabaret, gives herself fully to her debut offering as Nighteyes and offers a masterful soundscape that has to be listened to across the whole album to fully sink in.
Rachel sat down earlier this week with HEAVY to talk about the album.
"I'm really excited," she smiled. "I'm also pretty nervous. I think it's my first release with a solo project so doing everything myself is a learning curve (laughs). But I'm really looking forward to having this album out. I've been recording it and working on it for two years, so it's gonna be nice to have it all done."
We ask Trainor to tell us more about The Way Back Down musically.
"It's kind of got a bunch of different sounds on it," she measured. "I'm really inspired by artists like Chelsea Wolf and Darkher. I really adore the way that some of those artists mix genres a little bit. There's some electronic vibes in there; there's some heavy, doom elements; a little bit of post rock as well. I made it so all of my influences have come together."
In the full interview, Rachel talks more about the sonic landscape of the album, the challenges of being a solo artist with a full band recording, what sorts of things she focussed on going into her debut album, the meaning behind the title, the singles released and how they represent the whole album, her circus and cabaret background and how she utilises that in her music, Friday night's album launch at Whole Lotta Love and more.