Fonteray is a new project from Australian artist Drew McCarty who makes this super chilled indie-dance music that can be likened to a mix between Toro Y Moi, Jungle and Washed Out.
This week Fonteray is giving us his latest offering, a summery feel-good single called ‘Sunshine’, which is the first in a collection of songs that he’ll be releasing via Mammal Sounds Records over the coming months.
As he reveals below, the idea for ‘Sunshine’ actually came about back in 2018 but due to the “Fonteray” project not even existing at that stage it was completely forgotten about. Lucky for us he has since rediscovered the song and put some solid hours into reworking and refining it into a sound that he feels is more indicative of the overall Fonteray style and vibe.
“The rough idea of ‘Sunshine’ has actually been around for a while now. There’s a video on my Instagram of me improvising a variation of the bassline over the chords from 2018, which was long before Fonteray even existed. It wasn’t until earlier this year that I found a super early demo of it that I had completely forgotten about. I was vibing with the bassline of it and was sort of hit by this melody idea for the chorus. I immediately demo’d it out again and essentially wrote out the whole song in one sitting.
Lyrically, I tend to lean on hazy, dreamlike imagery because that’s the vibe I want the song to evoke overall. Where I can, I like to leave it somewhat vague, to leave space for the listener to insert whoever comes to mind when they hear the song. Particularly with a song like Sunshine which is ultimately about a relationship that didn’t work out but can still be reflected upon fondly.
Although I had a complete demo when it came time to record the song, I opted to essentially start from scratch once in the studio. Working with long-time collaborator Michael Belsar (Hayden James, Hunting Grounds) in his Abbotsford studio, we wanted to make sure the song had freedom to grow naturally, and that we weren’t constraining it with pre-existing ideas of what it should sound like. Leaning into this ‘serve the song’ mentality, meant we added a bunch of things that we normally wouldn’t, like acoustic guitar, and live upright piano because of the character it added to the song.
For me this song feels like an evolution stylistically towards what I am trying to achieve sonically when I write music. A sound which marries vintage and modern sounds, something that is just as evocative as it is danceable. With tight grooves, a sprinkle of psychedelia and a slight nod to my funk/soul influences.” ~ Fonteray
out now via: Mammal Sounds Records
artist connect: Facebook | Soundcloud | Instagram
