Sydney’s Crystellia is fresh off the release of their debut single, “Skybound,” a cinematic exploration of a tender love story
The track, characterized by its intricate mix of warmth and sharpness, bass and ethereal textures, sets a compelling tone for Crystellia’s entry into the music scene.
In an interview, Alison and Suhit discuss their remote collaboration process, highlighting the importance of storytelling within minimal lyrics.
“Skybound” unfolds as a narrative of awkward encounters and magical moments between two individuals, open to diverse interpretations.
Suhit sees it as a symbol of taking a leap of faith, while Alison views it as a universal expression of love.
Despite debut release anxieties, Crystellia anticipates a promising future, hinting at a four-track EP in 2024.
The duo’s commitment to evoking complex emotions and crafting a sonic journey resonates, offering a glimpse into their musical direction.
Happy: What are you up to today?
Alison: Not much, our usual day to day is either filled working, studying or gaming.
Happy: What does a typical day of look like when recording a track like ‘Skybound’?
Alison: A lot of our work has been remote, discord has been our best friend!
Most of our process for Skybound was a lot of production arrangement, and producing either on the spot on call and sending files to each other, but also producing and recording ideas in our own time and introducing them to each other to see what clicked and what didn’t.
It’s certainly not your typical day of recording where most people would physically come to a studio (not to say that we haven’t!), but this was how we spent most of our time during the production of Skybound.
Happy: You’ve said that ‘Skybound’ is open to interpretation, but what do you envision the meaning of the song to be?
Alison: When we were coming up with Skybound, at face value it was a naive love song about an awkward encounter between two people.
The song itself has this warm texture which is inter cut with sharp sounds and heavy basses.
We wanted it to be the soundtrack to represent the love and journey between these two individuals.
The midsection especially is a very magical moment and it carries a great sense of weight and momentum into the final drop.
Suhit: Both Alison and I had differing views of the song. For the longest time the title of the song was Skybound, but when the time for release came, we both had different ideas of what the name Skybound was and what it meant to us.
For me, Skybound symbolized taking a leap of faith, that we were bound to the limitless potential of the skies and stars.
That our future was whatever we chose to make it in that moment.
Alison: I definitely echo what Suhit said, in that it’s about taking a leap of faith. I also wanted the lyrics to resonate with this idea, so what could possibly be better than to have it expressed in this universal form of love?
It could be a love for someone or something you care for, or for yourself.
But what matters the most is that the meaning of the song is about taking a chance on something that you’re deeply passionate about.
Happy: How important is creating a story within a song, especially when the lyrics are sparse?
Alison: So, so, SO important! Whilst we felt like a lot of the story came out through the music itself, creating this sense of longing for something, the lyrics were also what ultimately tied this story and idea together.
We personally found that the less lyrics we had to work with, the easier and harder it was.
On one hand, less words means less having to worry about piecing ideas together. But on the other hand, those few words need to stand out in their own way.
For us, we wanted to make sure that the lyrics were not just two dimensional, but that they could be interpreted in enough ways that it could be comprehended in a more complex manner if someone wanted to.
So yeah, it’s super important to us.
Happy: You’ve said the intention behind your music is to evoke feelings. How do you go about deciding which feelings to explore in your work?
Alison: We are very much the kind to follow the feeling that our music is evoking.
So if something is predominantly coming across as intensely passionate, warm, caring, we want to enhance that even further in our track.
Happy: Given that it is your debut, was there a certain level of anxiety around releasing ‘Skybound’? Or were you just keen to let it loose?
Alison: There was definitely some anxiety surrounding the release of our track – we know how the music industry is exhausting to navigate, and how brutal it can feel at times, we didn’t know if the track would be received by many, or any Australian music outlets.
At the same time, we knew that we’ve got incredible support systems surrounding us, cheering us on at every step of the way.
And we did let it loose at our debut single gig, which was a nice feeling.
We cleansed ourselves of that anxiety when we played that gig.
Happy: Anything exciting on the horizon that you can tease for us?
We’re working real hard towards a four track EP – it’s our first time doing this properly so even though we’re aiming for a release in the first half of 2024, we do also want to make sure we’re shaping these tracks up the way we want them to be!
Happy: What makes you happy?
Alison: What makes me happy is an overconsumption of delicious food and drinks. If we’re talking about music, I’m happy that I’m still making music, and connecting with people across the world with our music… but a hot, soy matcha latte will also make me happy.
