A horizon of his own.
For Julian Weir, music isn’t a product to be manufactured; it’s a world to be inhabited.
The Sydney-based composer resides in a creative universe all his own, far from the pressures of commercial trends.
His latest release, Horizon, is a testament to this ethos; an electronic album that has been almost a decade in the making.
Originally mixed in 2012, the record was recently unearthed and mastered, a time capsule from an era when Weir would lose himself for hours in his parents’ home cinema studio. The result is a “journey album” that is defiantly timeless.
From its disco-infused beats to its orchestral synth flourishes, every sound is played live and unquantised.
Weir is an “outlaw” of the keyboard, refusing to imitate and instead offering a sound that is purely his own.
We sat down with the musician to discuss his creative process, the beauty of the horizon, and his love for a rainy night.
HAPPY: What’d you get up to today?
JULIAN WEIR: Just blew the leaves off my drive, something that needs doing every now and then. Will go out to an Indian restaurant to eat tonight.
HAPPY: Tell us a little about where you’re from, and what you love about it!
WEIR: I’m from Sydney, Australia. What I love about Sydney are the beaches. I live in Palm Beach so I get my fair dose of them. Going for a walk on a beach at night’s a good one.
HAPPY: Your new album Horizon was originally mixed back in 2012. What prompted you to dig it up after all these years and give it a final master?
WEIR: It was just a period of revisiting a lot of work, I’ve got other albums that I’ve done.
HAPPY: You’ve described making this album as feeling like “swimming in amongst it.” Can you describe that creative flow state for us?
WEIR: A feeling of complete and total freedom is how I would describe it. Doing this album came very naturally to me, so part of the ‘swimming’ feeling were sessions where I was lost in the world of it for several hours at a time.
HAPPY: You’ve mentioned being an “outlaw” with the keyboard, using the same tools as commercial composers but with “abandon.” What does breaking the rules sound like to you?
WEIR: That statement was made in reference to other musicians who do theme songs for shows of various kinds, who use the same kind of synthesiser instruments as myself, to come up with something equivalent to a band sound.
However unlike the composers I’m mentioning here I had no commercial considerations when making Horizon, and so that’s where the ‘abandon’ comes in.
HAPPY: Looking back at the person you were in 2012 versus who you are today, does Horizon sound like a different artist to you now?
WEIR: Horizon sounds as fresh to me now as it did back then, so conversely no – I don’t think it sounds like another artist, or that I’ve even changed that much with my style.
HAPPY: The title Horizon suggests a boundary or a limit. Does the album explore the fear of limits, or the beauty of what lies just out of reach?
WEIR: The latter point’s it. Horizon’s album that’s got a feel of the journey, each track has its own journey. So with a horizon, when you’re traveling, its always about what’s coming up ahead, what’s around the bend.
HAPPY: Many musicians feel pressured to conform to a genre. You seem to resist that entirely. How did you find the confidence to just offer your “unique sound” without imitation?
WEIR: When I grew up I listened to Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Elton John, Pink Floyd, Joni Mitchell to name a few.
They always just had their own sound, so from an early age I figured that was the way to go, you’re only worth your weight as an artist if you have your own voice, your own sound.
HAPPY: Now that Horizon is finally out in the world, does this feel like closing a chapter for you, or does it inspire you to start a new project immediately?
WEIR: It feels good to have the album go out there, I guess my attention is now on the other work
I’ve done, and the timing of releasing that also.
HAPPY: Lastly, what makes you happy? :-)
WEIR: One thing that makes me happy is when it’s a dark and rainy night outside, and I get to feel cosy with my own little world inside the house I live in.
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