Melbourne multi-instrumentalist and producer, LANKS aka Will Cuming is on the eve of releasing his debut EP Thousand Piece Puzzle (out via Bandcamp tomorrow June 11th).
Our ‘Profile’ on LANKS from earlier this year described him as a “mix-up of folktronica, minimal techno, asian pop and beat poetry” a description that though vast, is pretty much spot on.
While still fronting seven piece band Farrow, LANKS is a side project which has given Will an opportunity to explore the world of solo writing and producing.
Part of this new LANKS venture was a blog of daily musical sketches Will shared with his housemate, which turned into Thousand Piece Puzzle, a full, self-produced/recorded 6-track EP that you hear now. To celebrate the release of the EP Will has given us a track by track run down of each song on the EP .
Boniki
“This song was a direct result of watching the anime film, Howl’s Moving Castle. I finished watching and sat down and this was the song that came out. The guitars have that dreamy, oriental sound to them.
The title came from a nickname my bandmate Jess had when she was young, and she was the first person who really liked this. This song is for her.”
Rises and Falls
“It’s a weird combination of things, with a glitchy, groovy beat and a very dark, ethereal guitar part. I had the original beat playing and then wrote this narrative to go with the dark mood that had already begun to form. I toyed with all these ideas for where the story could go, but it just seemed like it was always going to go down as a tragedy, so I fully embraced that.
After writing the narrative I really felt the ‘Rises and Falls’ line that was in the last verse was the strongest summation of the song, so I added it on, almost like the ghost of the girl haunting you as you listen.”
The Butcher
“This song is like a comic book, filled with violence but meant to be humourous. Also, swords are just so much more sexy to me than guns so I went for a sword-wielding butcher who sells human meat.
The “happy” ending is where he ends up killing everyone and the rest is the soundtrack to his luxury hawaiian holiday that he no doubt would have taken after such a stressful end to his business.”
Green Light
“I have a really strong connection with this song. I recorded a version of it with my band, Farrow, as a B-side, but I always had this idea of it as an a ballad in electronic form.
You’re sitting at your desk at 3am and you’re lamenting some of the decisions you might have made in your life that have changed the course of it, and the people that have come and gone. It’s a song of loneliness, and of looking at different ways things might have gone.”
Knife and Spear
“This song was the only one that got a severe re-work after the initial sketch, and I’m really glad it did. It was a lot longer and it wasn’t something I was very proud of, and then I cut back the verses and I rewrote the guitar in the verses and re-recorded the vocals, and all of a sudden it had a new lease on life!
The moral of the story is you’ll get sliced up with knives if you don’t give people adequate amounts of affection, an important but often underrated lesson really.”
Lady Elliot
“My favourite way to finish the EP. Not having vocals lets my imagination run wild every time I listen to it, and that’s the idea behind the the whole record.
If you throw caution to the wind, and try and do something different, you’ll probably end up making something that you’re very proud of.”
EP Launch Dates
20 June | The Grace Darling | Melbourne
27 June | Upstairs Beresford | Sydney
For more info visit LANKS’ Facebook.
