LUNA MAY.
Luna May is an experimental project created by Emma Carn in 2015, which to her surprise flourished beyond her expectations. The solo Perth artist writes lyrics straight from her heart, bringing them to life through her ethereal vocals layered over captivating beats - all produced within her bedroom-recording studio.
Luna’s Triple J Unearthed profile describes her style… “Luna May is the essence of Banks and the melancholy of Lana Del Ray. It’s the feeling of walking barefoot in the woods and turbulently falling through space.”
Emma is currently skyrocketing to the top of European EDM charts under Emma Carn, but hoping to achieve the same success under Luna May. She recently supported Vera Blue at the Aviary Rooftop bar and also played Shipwrecked festival along with Shannon Noll and the Thundamentals.
A typical day/night for Emma includes stirring slowly around midday, religiously watching Youtubers and vloggers, creating beats in her head and writing them down in her phone notes, then somehow recording all through the night until the wee hours of dawn. And then she does it all over again. Occasionally she breaks free from her bedroom studio, to fulfill her duty as my best friend.
After a long day of mucking around, fantasizing about our future and, planning our dream lives, I sat down and had a chat with my bestie. For the first time I asked her some deeper, personal questions about her music, and here’s what she had to say.
Luna’s Triple J Unearthed profile describes her style… “Luna May is the essence of Banks and the melancholy of Lana Del Ray. It’s the feeling of walking barefoot in the woods and turbulently falling through space.”
Emma is currently skyrocketing to the top of European EDM charts under Emma Carn, but hoping to achieve the same success under Luna May. She recently supported Vera Blue at the Aviary Rooftop bar and also played Shipwrecked festival along with Shannon Noll and the Thundamentals.
A typical day/night for Emma includes stirring slowly around midday, religiously watching Youtubers and vloggers, creating beats in her head and writing them down in her phone notes, then somehow recording all through the night until the wee hours of dawn. And then she does it all over again. Occasionally she breaks free from her bedroom studio, to fulfill her duty as my best friend.
After a long day of mucking around, fantasizing about our future and, planning our dream lives, I sat down and had a chat with my bestie. For the first time I asked her some deeper, personal questions about her music, and here’s what she had to say.
Tell me something about yourself that nobody knows.
Not a lot of people know that when I was 17 I auditioned for the X-factor (pre-tv auditions). I had to stand in a room with two of the producers, and sing a cover of a popular song. I opened my mouth and sang for not even 20 seconds before they told me to stop, get some singing lessons and return next year. It totally destroyed my confidence, but after a few weeks I was back to singing again.
What inspired you to start producing your own music?
Anyone that knows me, knows that I am the biggest DIY freak ever. If I think its possible to do something myself, then I will jump on google and teach myself to do it before I reach out to someone else. When it came to making my own music, I wanted to be able to have control over my own sound and I found it really hard to communicate my ideas to another producer. At this time, I only knew producers over in Europe and so it was difficult for me to give creative direction over the internet. I ended up just downloading Logic Pro X, and mucking around in it for a week straight. I remember sitting up until 3am, having no idea what I was doing, just pressing buttons until I figured out what they did. One week later I had produced my first single, Hooked. Now that I have a better understanding of production, and can communicate my ideas I definitely wouldn't turn down working with other producers on a future Luna May track. I'd love to see where I could take my sound with another producer involved.
Do you like it better than singing?
I think I like the combination of both. If I was to seperate the two, then I think I'd prefer production just as it allows me to get much more creative. I could spend hours producing, but not hours singing.
What's your favourite thing to do when you are chilling out?
I have an obsession with watching youtube, it really has to stop.
Not a lot of people know that when I was 17 I auditioned for the X-factor (pre-tv auditions). I had to stand in a room with two of the producers, and sing a cover of a popular song. I opened my mouth and sang for not even 20 seconds before they told me to stop, get some singing lessons and return next year. It totally destroyed my confidence, but after a few weeks I was back to singing again.
What inspired you to start producing your own music?
Anyone that knows me, knows that I am the biggest DIY freak ever. If I think its possible to do something myself, then I will jump on google and teach myself to do it before I reach out to someone else. When it came to making my own music, I wanted to be able to have control over my own sound and I found it really hard to communicate my ideas to another producer. At this time, I only knew producers over in Europe and so it was difficult for me to give creative direction over the internet. I ended up just downloading Logic Pro X, and mucking around in it for a week straight. I remember sitting up until 3am, having no idea what I was doing, just pressing buttons until I figured out what they did. One week later I had produced my first single, Hooked. Now that I have a better understanding of production, and can communicate my ideas I definitely wouldn't turn down working with other producers on a future Luna May track. I'd love to see where I could take my sound with another producer involved.
Do you like it better than singing?
I think I like the combination of both. If I was to seperate the two, then I think I'd prefer production just as it allows me to get much more creative. I could spend hours producing, but not hours singing.
What's your favourite thing to do when you are chilling out?
I have an obsession with watching youtube, it really has to stop.
Luna May supporting Vera Blue at the Aviary, May 2016.
Who is your biggest artist inspo?
Bon Iver (Justin Vernon). He's just a god. When he wrote my favourite album For Emma, Forever Ago (obviously dedicated to me), he had locked himself away in a cabin in the middle of the forest in North-East Wisconsin. He'd just broken up with his band, his girlfriend and found out he had liver disease. Then he wrote a ridiculously fucking good album whilst in solitary. Ever since I heard about that, I've wanted to go lock myself away in a cabin somewhere and just write a bunch of songs and see what I come up with.
What do you hope to achieve in Melbourne?
I'm really hoping it brings me more opportunities for playing live, as there a lot more venues there than there are here in Perth. The music scene over there has always enticed me, and I just want to go over and check it out and see if I can make something of myself in a big city. Some days I have doubts and wonder if I should be going, as the music scene here in Perth is pretty sick. But at the end of the day, I don't want to be stuck here wondering ! So I'm gonna give it a crack.
Where do you want to be in 5 years?
In 5 years time I really hope to have an album out. I also want to be playing festivals and hopefully touring the world, or at least Australia. I don't really want to think about myself doing anything other than music.
Tell me your ideal day?
Ideal day would be spent with you Asapferg2, down at the beach stuffing our faces with food and wine.
Do you see yourself playing at festivals?
Absolutely ! I'd love to play at Groovin the moo, or Southbound here in Perth. My dream is to head over east, and one day "make it", then come back to Perth and play to all my friends at one of our favourite festivals. Would be sick. Ideally, the biggest dream would be to play something huge one day like Glastonbury.
Who would your ultimate collab be with ?
Definitely Flume or Odesza. Think I would die a happy woman.
How do you prep yourself to sing with so much emotion?
I don't really do anything to prepare myself, but I guess all my songs are pretty emotional. Most of my songs were written in a pretty shitty time, and when I sing them to an audience, it's like telling everyone the story of what happened. It's hard to sing with a lack of emotion.
Where does the inspiration come from when you write your lyrics?
Generally my lyric writing follows an event, when the emotions are still raw. So I would say my biggest inspiration would be personal events that have sparked an emotion of some sort. I find it really hard to write when nothing is really going on in my life. I actually find I write the best music when I'm upset about something... Unfortunately, I'm not upset very often so sometimes I struggle to write music haha
What is your song Castles about?
Castles is one of those songs that every person asks me about. There's no hiding in my lyric writing with metaphors or riddles; you don't have to read between the lines, it's just all put out there. Yet it's still hard to talk about, because I was so vulnerable at that point in my life. Long story short, I wrote it about a boy that I had briefly dated. We had met online and created a fantasy in our heads, a future together. We thought we were soul mates, and before we knew it we had shared with each other everything there was to know about ourselves. We each flew across the country in attempts to pursue what we thought was going to be happily ever after. But in reality, we found we weren't compatible and everything we built in our heads was crushed. I had shared so much with a stranger, all for it to disappear before it even really began. It was a pretty crazy time in my life.
Bon Iver (Justin Vernon). He's just a god. When he wrote my favourite album For Emma, Forever Ago (obviously dedicated to me), he had locked himself away in a cabin in the middle of the forest in North-East Wisconsin. He'd just broken up with his band, his girlfriend and found out he had liver disease. Then he wrote a ridiculously fucking good album whilst in solitary. Ever since I heard about that, I've wanted to go lock myself away in a cabin somewhere and just write a bunch of songs and see what I come up with.
What do you hope to achieve in Melbourne?
I'm really hoping it brings me more opportunities for playing live, as there a lot more venues there than there are here in Perth. The music scene over there has always enticed me, and I just want to go over and check it out and see if I can make something of myself in a big city. Some days I have doubts and wonder if I should be going, as the music scene here in Perth is pretty sick. But at the end of the day, I don't want to be stuck here wondering ! So I'm gonna give it a crack.
Where do you want to be in 5 years?
In 5 years time I really hope to have an album out. I also want to be playing festivals and hopefully touring the world, or at least Australia. I don't really want to think about myself doing anything other than music.
Tell me your ideal day?
Ideal day would be spent with you Asapferg2, down at the beach stuffing our faces with food and wine.
Do you see yourself playing at festivals?
Absolutely ! I'd love to play at Groovin the moo, or Southbound here in Perth. My dream is to head over east, and one day "make it", then come back to Perth and play to all my friends at one of our favourite festivals. Would be sick. Ideally, the biggest dream would be to play something huge one day like Glastonbury.
Who would your ultimate collab be with ?
Definitely Flume or Odesza. Think I would die a happy woman.
How do you prep yourself to sing with so much emotion?
I don't really do anything to prepare myself, but I guess all my songs are pretty emotional. Most of my songs were written in a pretty shitty time, and when I sing them to an audience, it's like telling everyone the story of what happened. It's hard to sing with a lack of emotion.
Where does the inspiration come from when you write your lyrics?
Generally my lyric writing follows an event, when the emotions are still raw. So I would say my biggest inspiration would be personal events that have sparked an emotion of some sort. I find it really hard to write when nothing is really going on in my life. I actually find I write the best music when I'm upset about something... Unfortunately, I'm not upset very often so sometimes I struggle to write music haha
What is your song Castles about?
Castles is one of those songs that every person asks me about. There's no hiding in my lyric writing with metaphors or riddles; you don't have to read between the lines, it's just all put out there. Yet it's still hard to talk about, because I was so vulnerable at that point in my life. Long story short, I wrote it about a boy that I had briefly dated. We had met online and created a fantasy in our heads, a future together. We thought we were soul mates, and before we knew it we had shared with each other everything there was to know about ourselves. We each flew across the country in attempts to pursue what we thought was going to be happily ever after. But in reality, we found we weren't compatible and everything we built in our heads was crushed. I had shared so much with a stranger, all for it to disappear before it even really began. It was a pretty crazy time in my life.
Check out Emma’s latest single “BOY” on her Sound cloud, she has collaborated with Perth musician, Christian Mechler, to create an amazing new song full of emotion and real heartbreak. The raw and genuine lyrics make the captivating beat that much better.
Follow Luna May here: