Seth Sentry is on one of his ‘writing weeks’, on a mountain in the Dandenong Ranges, getting inspiration from his tranquil surroundings. In fact, it’s his last writing week for the new long player, which can only mean album #2 isn’t too far away.
That’s how I’ve been doing the whole album; I’ve been writing it by going away on these week-long writing trips which has been really good. I’ve never done it before.
For perhaps the first time, Seth is getting reflective on his new single Run, which looks back to his youth.
I’ve never really written songs like that, with that sort of nostalgia. Maybe as you get older you start looking back a bit more. I’ve tried to do it a few times before and it was a struggle. I don’t know what’s happening at the moment in my life that’s making it come out so easily. You have to write about whatever you’re feeling I guess.
As for the follow-up album, Seth promises a mixture of the inflective and personal, as well as the usual narrative-based conceptual songs.
Even those conceptual ones, when you slice away the story, are really just about me. But then again, that’s art isn’t it? It’s a reflection of you and your place on the world.
Even though Seth may have found some personal things to rap about, his overall attitude and outlook remains refreshing. You could argue that some Aussie hip-hop artists in the industry take themselves too seriously, and they often tend to get wrapped up in the problems of society. Seth has a way of not getting bogged down by the serious, generally keeping his songs light-hearted.
That’s the way I like to do it I guess; do a song about something that seems really fun and light but there’s some kernel of truth hidden in it that people can swallow without realising. I’m not an angsty teen anymore – I find that really overtly political stuff exhausting. So I like to have fun – but still want to say something. There are people way more knowledgeable than me on any topic I rap about so all I can do is to try to say it in an interesting way that maybe hasn’t been done before.
Recently Seth got to partake in Triple J’s Beat the Drum festival, celebrating 40 years of triple J. For him, the experience was particularly poignant, as Seth owes much of his early success to the support of the radio station.
Triple J was instrumental in my career so it was good to be involved in that. Obviously to do that song [Cosby Sweater] with all the boys – getting to jump onstage with pretty much all my friends in the industry – it was sick.
Seth has a lot of respect for his listeners. He prefers playing smaller gigs so he can connect with the audience, and he really appreciates their support.
I never really use the word ‘fans’. I feel like it instantly separates us. Really, they’re just people who happen to like similar music to me. I think artists sometimes forget that, and they care too much about their Twitter followers or Facebook likes. All those likes are just real people with real lives and families and stories. When I do a show I interact with the people. I like small shows way better that the bigger venues – when you do big festivals, you feel quite removed.
Seth is about to embark on his Run tour, hitting the capital cities and a few venues in between, joined by Canberra’s own Citizen Kay.
I’m looking forward to just getting back on the road. We’ve got some new songs to do and we’ve completely restructured the whole set. It’s going to be challenging and I’m pretty excited. Plus we’re hitting the road with Citizen Kay and Coin Banks, who I’ve never toured with before so I’m really looking forward to that.
Catch him at ANU Bar on March Saturday 14 March. Click here for tickets.
