Thelma’s a self-proclaimed stalker
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Folktronica fun … Singer Thelma Plum has conjured a genre fusion for her Monsters EP.
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THELMA Plum is a self-proclaimed stalker. When she was 14, she heard her now manager speak at an industry event and decided she would be the one to help her negotiate the business of music.
After her clever, captivating and cussing debut EP Rosie introduced her refreshingly skewed acoustica last year, Plum then pursued hip hop hit maker M-Phazes to produce her next instalment of songs.
M-PHAZES IN PARTY: Kimbra the next big thing
M-PHAZES: Nominated for ARIA in 2010
That EP, Monsters, takes a sharp left turn into electronica while still maintaining the melodic hooks and emotional depth of her songwriterly sensibilities.
Plum feared M-Phazes, whose producer credits include Eminem, Kimbra and Illy, may baulk at her idea of fusing her edgy folk with beats.
“I stalked M-Phazes. I went by myself to see one of Illy’s shows when he was still playing with him,” she recalls.
“I wanted to meet him and got backstage after the show, trying to make my presence known but he was talking to people and I was too nervous to go up and introduce myself.”
Plum eventually got her music to him and he agreed to the challenge of melding their worlds.
“He heard my music and while he thought it was folksy, he was down with mixing the two so different things,” she says.
Monsters, introduced by the haunting spaghetti western meets Massive Attack of How Much Does Your Love Cost?, has confirmed the prodigious talent of the 19-year-old Triple J Unearthed discovery.
Lyrically, Plum exorcises the ghosts of relationships past in the four tracks which also include the titular tune, Young In Love and Candle.
Serial stalker … the young singer songwriter relentlessly pursues the people she wants to work with, and wins.
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She said part of her brief to M-Phazes and their own production collaborator John Castle (Washington, Josh Pyke, Kate Miller-Heidke) was to instil the songs with a brooding melancholy.
“I write these songs at the end of last year … I was in a relationship with someone which was quite unhealthy,” Plum says.
“I kept thinking ‘Why am I writing these songs? What’s going on?’ Once I realised why, I wanted them to keep that broody and sad thing about them.”
Plum’s love of music and drive to pursue it was fostered and supported by her mother Lieszel.
She grew up listening to Paul Kelly and Kasey Chambers songs, deconstructing everything from their lyrics and melodies to how they played the instruments.
But like all young girls, she also had an obsession with pop music from Britney Spears to Delta Goodrem.
“I would analyse everything about Paul and Kasey Chambers’ songs and how they performed live but I also loved huge crazy pop stars and wanted to make music that big,” she says.
“Mum wasn’t so keen on me listening to Britney.”
She went to a music-dedicated high school, keeping in touch with her now manager Leanne De Souza, who also looks after The Medics.
“I wanted to know it all, everything there is to know about music,” she says.
Canine muse … Plum’s debut EP was named after her dog Rosie.
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Monsters’ sonic departure from the folk-flecked Rosie EP, and it’s Triple J hits Dollar and Around Here isn’t the only difference in Plum’s musical world.
You may have noticed she has toned down the F bombs on her most recent songs.
“It’s interesting that I could have songs with swear words and they wouldn’t get played but a practically naked girl in a video gets played,” she says, laughing.
“The new EP only has one swear word and it’s very quiet.”
Once her national Monsters tour and Falls Festival sets wind up at the end of the year, Plum will focus on writing the songs for her debut album for release later in 2015.
Like her peers, she remains committed to the artistic statement offered by an album even the attention span deficit download era.
She tries to write every day so she can explore all her musical possibilities but thinks she will have a better idea of where to go to next once she dedicates herself to the idea of the album.
“It’s a really big thing, the first album. You want to make a big statement,” she says.
HEAR: Monsters (Warner) out now.
SEE: Thelma Plum, Oxford Art Factory, October 31, moshtix.com.au; Corner Hotel, November 8, cornerhotel.com; The Zoo, November 29, oztix.com.au
