Rosa: Kia ora, today we are here in the Matrix Digital Podcast Studio with the winner of our summer single competition, Miss Chloe Vitale. Today we’re just gonna have a bit of a yarn about your creative process and your upcoming releases and everything cool about you. How are you going Chloe?
Chloe: Good, how are you?
Rosa: Good! So you recently released your winning competition single “Milk Pond”
Chloe: Yeah!
Rosa: And you recorded, mixed and mastered that here. How did you find the whole recording process?
Chloe: It was really fun. It was nice and chill. Yeah, it was good. I haven’t done much recording in studios, so yeah, it was nice just to do it slowly at the start and then, once you get the vibe, keep going.
Rosa: I always get that song stuck in my head.
Chloe: Really?
Rosa: Yeah, like full on stuck in my head. I don’t know whether it’s because I was hearing it as it was being recorded and mixed. I think it just has a nice looping quality to it.
Chloe: Yeah (laughs)
Rosa: So you’ve released three songs in total now?
Chloe: Yeah!
Rosa: Kind of like one per year since 2022?
Chloe: Yeah, that was the first one. And then this year, I’m trying to get on a roll.
Rosa: Get on a roll more? So can we expect an EP or a few more singles?
Chloe: Yeah, I’d love to do an EP this year. More singles for sure. Maybe just like more casual singles released.
Rosa: Epic. I’m curious, how do you generally approach composition? Are you more of an intentional creative in that sense? I’m asking this because I compose music myself and some people are very much like, ‘I set up a space, I go, I start choosing to write and then I just write what comes to me’. Is that your process, or does an idea come to you and then you work from there?
Chloe: I think for the writing, I write all the time, kind of. Like even diary-entry kind of writing. And then I try to do creative writing, just kind of mixes, like lyrics and stuff. And then to actually write the song, I have to be like; “write a song!”. I just sit myself down. And then I just grab lyrics I’ve written and put it together.
Rosa: True… So is it generally lyrics that come to you first, or is it like a riff, or a melody?
Chloe: Definitely lyrics, I’d say. Yeah.
Rosa: Interesting.
Chloe: Yeah. I can’t just write a melody.
Rosa: But do they come at the same time?
Chloe: Sometimes, yeah. If I’m just starting with nothing. But otherwise, yeah, I just use lyrics I’ve got, or writing I’ve got.
Rosa: That’s so cool. Where do you find inspiration for your lyrics?
Chloe: Well, a lot of the time when I write song lyrics, I think I’m out… like outside, or at the beach or something. So maybe nature. And I kind of like to write to myself, in the future or the past..
Rosa: Interesting! So you tend to write songs in the first person or third person?
Chloe: I think… like for the last song, Milk Pond, that was me, and I was kind of imagining myself writing to me as a little kid…
Rosa: Wow, I need to listen to the song again. So you’re generally writing songs to yourself in some way?
Chloe: Yeah… in a weird way.
Rosa: I mean, that’s really cool. I think it’s quite like a profound way of doing things. I feel like a lot of musicians – not that there’s any issue with it – I mean, I do it myself. I think that often [when songwriting you’re] communicating to someone or you’re writing a song about someone else. If you are writing about things like relationships or dynamics that you have with other people, do you still find yourself referring back to talking to yourself through that situation?
Chloe: Yeah, I like to talk about other people as well. I think, yeah, well, sometimes I’ll start with myself and I’ll be like, “okay, it’s not about me” (Laughs)
Rosa: Haha damn it! So we have been over your creative process and inspirations but I wonder what pulls you to this medium? And what do you see coming from it, apart from your music, what’s the goal?
Chloe: I think with writing; I think it’s just relaxing. You can get it all out of your head. Then songwriting, I guess it’s like, probably the biggest creative outlet I’ve got. So I just use that also for relaxing.
Rosa: Yeah. It’s quite cathartic.
Chloe: Yeah, like that kind of thing. Yeah… and what do I see coming from it?
Rosa: Yeah, yeah. What’s your goal, if you have any, for where you see your future & your music going in the next five years?
Chloe: I’d love to do heaps more songwriting and releasing music. And hopefully, yeah, being in a band. Playing more.
Rosa: What kind of instruments do you see in your band?
Chloe: I know I really like Olivia Dean and her live set up, she’s really cool. It’s kind of souly, I guess, like drums, trumpets, keyboard, bass, just the basics. But yeah, live sound.
Rosa: Yeah, thrilling. I hope that’s on the horizon for you, I’m sure it is. So, speaking of releasing more music – you’ve been back in the studio this weekend, working on your new single. Do you feel that you approached your session this weekend differently to the last time you were here?
Chloe: I think it was similar.
Rosa: Yeah. Do you feel like it’s different for each song or like the way that you would approach production or?
Chloe: Yeah, for sure. I’m still trying to figure out the sound I want to go for. And it’s hard not being in a band. So, I just mess around with it. But, these past two songs, I like their production and the sounds.
Rosa: Yeah. Yeah, that’s really cool. So do you have any performances lined up in the future, or are you sort of seeking to try and piece a band together?
Chloe: Maybe, well, not yet. I’m moving to Australia.
Rosa: True!
Chloe: I’ve got like one little gig. (laughing)
Rosa: That’s so cool. When are you moving?
Chloe: Two weeks.
Rosa: Whoa.
Chloe: Just for three months at the moment.
Rosa: Yeah, cool. That’s so cool. Whereabouts in Aussie are you moving?
Chloe: Melbourne.
Rosa: Well, I feel like you’ll have a lot of fun with the music scene in Melbourne. All the best Chloe, we hope to see you again sometime soon!
