Butternut Sweetheart, the solo project of Sydney multi-instrumentalist Luke Moseley, is a perfect melting pot of dream-pop and his self-described “underwater indie” style.
Moseley’s latest single Bury Me is hauntingly beautiful, an honest display of lyricism, a hell funky baseline and an old school piano melody.
Butternut Sweetheart’s new video for Bury Me is full of intense eye contact, sporadic dancing, and no shortage of dreamy vibes.
Moseley is no newcomer to the music world, assisting legends such as Ball Park Music, Sarah Blasko and Paul Kelly with live production, as well as recording with artists such as Emma Davis and playing live for RW Grace and Matt McHugh.
“Butternut Sweetheart is a project that I’ve been secretly working on for the last two and a half years,” he shared.
“It’s a combination of all of the things that I love – interesting grooves, smooth synths, wonky production and liberal songwriting. All of these factors have led me to a style that I’m still struggling to define but I imagine lives somewhere between Radiohead and The Dirty Projectors. I’ve also been drawn to the term ‘underwater indie’ if that helps in any way (I doubt that it will).”
The making of Bury Me didn’t manifest overnight, with Luke sitting on the piano part for over a year, inspired by his former house’s classic upright piano that he loved the sound of.
“I felt like writing something that sounded like it could be the start of a classical piece. Soon enough, though, my psychedelic sensibilities won out and it got drawn into my world of production.”
“As I was writing Bury Me, I was dealing with some personal grief. It was an instance where the level of sorrow was completely exaggerated in comparison to the event itself. I was feeling empty, but I didn’t have the language to express my feeling of emptiness. Though it’s a fairly morbid metaphor, Bury Me was my way of acknowledging, accepting and eventually embracing those feelings of despair (though I am happy that they are behind me). “
Moseley also worked with Sam Cromack from Ball Park Music on the track. He said:
“The main thing that I loved about working with Sam was how easy and enjoyable everything seemed. The whole time, I was like a little kid ecstatic about a new toy. It felt like a celebration of music creation.”
“Of course, I’m a big fan of what Sam brings production wise too – for example, the bounce of the bass guitar (which is now such a vital part of the song) and the high, modulating guitar chords (definitely some sweet Ball Park vibes there). We worked on another track that I’m guessing will be in the public sphere before too long.”
The music video is nothing short of spectacular, with some deep and meaningful eye contact and freeform dancing illuminating the bittersweet feeling of the song. Working with his friend and filmmaker/photographer Marcus Coblyn, the video was made fairly quickly to get the song out in time.
“We had one night to do everything and prior to shooting, we barely even had a concept. We shot the whole thing in about three hours in my house and back alley as we kept bouncing ideas off each other. I love the slow motion vibes of the singing and dancing. I feel so comfortable around Marcus and I was so surprised about how free all the dancing at the end felt. Most of those scenes were to music that was barely audible. I wouldn’t call myself a spontaneous dancer, so it was nice to tap into a different side of my personality.”
Although Butternut Sweetheart has only started releasing songs this year, we can’t wait to see what comes next. Catch Bury Me live in Melbourne on the 19th May at The Gasometer Hotel and Sydney on the 21st May at the Bank Hotel as well on Ball Park Music’s regional tour where he will be supporting them.
