'A liberating and life-changing experience'
Why Milan Ring's debut nature excursions benefitted from no phone reception
One of Australia's most unbelievable - and underrated - hybrid talents, Milan Ring is winning fans all over the shop with her incredible mastery over almost every aspect of the music writing and recording process. She's an incredible singer, rapper, writer, producer, engineer and multi-instrumentalist. There's very little she can't do, as evidenced by her phenomenal track 'Bound', which mixes Spanish influences with her signature R&B sound, which she both wrote and recorded early versions of during her nature sessions at Sufjan and Jojo.
Unyoked: You've been at this for quite a while but it seems like since your last record came out things are really shifting up a gear. How do you find time for yourself among your growing commitments? What does a no-work day look like for Milan? Does it exist? The last year I haven’t had much time off, to be honest, and I do often find myself heading toward burn-out, so scheduling time off and having breaks is something that I am continuously learning and trying to get better at. A no-work day would consist of some exercise, self-care, maybe a massage or a bath and some time spent in nature, journaling, eating well and being with friends or fam.
You're an accomplished artist that can basically do it all, from recordings to writing, playing multiple instruments and producing. Do you think this means you put more pressure on yourself than a regular musician? Is anything ever truly finished? I definitely have high expectations and am my own worst critic, but I think we all are. Finality in the sense of reaching mastery will never happen that's for sure, I am constantly learning and striving to grow, dividing my time between the different mediums that I want to advance. In terms of finishing a song and releasing it, I can of course listen to my back catalogue and think of things that I might change if I was working on it now - but even so, I wouldn’t want to. I like that my journey and growth are shown, and in that, the song feels complete & final and like I have left it in the past.
Being connected with nature and the land, slowed the normality of the day-to-day to slip away and for that sense of wonder and adventure to come back in.
You went to two very different cabins over the space of about a month. How did you find each of them? Did you prefer one to the other? I really enjoyed my time at the unyoked cabins, especially Sufjan. I loved how isolated it was, just me, my new cow friends and the fire. The views of the hills around the cabin and the sound of the creek passing below were especially beautiful to experience. I was also blessed with the most perfect weather, it didn’t rain at all, the days were warm and the nights were cold, but I spent them by the fire, gazing at the stars and the milky way, which I could see for the first time in years. It was also one of the first times I went away into nature, with no reception for a few days by myself, so it was a particularly liberating and life-changing experience, one which I will definitely do again.
Have you previously tried to get out to nature or go totally offline while writing new material? Or is this a new experience for you? I have gone on an artist retreat a few times actually, and have always found the experience incredibly inspiring. Being connected with nature and the land and allowing the normality of the day-to-day to slip away and for that sense of wonder and adventure to come back in, always allows my creativity to flow.
What do you think other artists can learn about taking nature time to help with their creative process? I think anything that allows a creative to connect with one's self, quieten the mind and feel one with their environment is going to help with their process. The more I read and write poetry especially, I see the intrinsic connections between nature and art, so taking nature time is crucial for me personally.
You took quite a bit of gear with you, including your guitar. Did you find your time out there was better for conceptualising and noodling around or writing? Would you go back again to work on a bigger project? I mainly just conceptualised and noodled, recorded voice memo ideas and left it at that. I would like to go out again to work mainly on lyrics and poetry that I can bring back and add to my production.
Even on your demo we could hear the magical sounds of nature that you'd picked up at the cabins. How did the sonics of the locations inspire you? In the voice memo of the idea which ended up as ‘Bound’ there was a bird singing who had a very particular rhythm and pitch. So I think instinctively (and subconsciously) I wrote the song in a key that suited the pitch of the bird, and once I was back home and brought the voice memo into Ableton, I created a high hat pattern that mimicked the birds call, and worked the beat around that. Your 2021 record deals pretty frankly with mental health and the concept of being hemmed in by life. Do you think beyond creative replenishment there's a case for nature as a mental salve for artists as well? I grew up in the city, so I am very used to the hustle and bustle, but I always feel a big shift in my perspective on life when I have spent time in nature. It is also extremely therapeutic, it calms my nervous system, reconnects and re-energises me. Tell us a bit about the writing and recording of your track. We're a bit obsessed with it. As I mentioned, I wrote the guitar chords whilst I was away on my first cabin experience, sitting outside on the deck with the sun beaming on me. I then took that voice memo and brought it into a session and produced the drum beat, and added in the synth and bass layers. I then left the idea for a month untouched and came back to it with fresh ears and recorded the guitars and wrote and recorded the vocals to ‘Bound’. Lyrically the song is about love and healing, that true, deep love is eternal no matter what happens in this life. I had my dog Nas next to me in the process and you can actually hear him snoring as I recorded the guitars, which I loved and kept in the track. Reflecting on his unconditional love was a big influence on the song actually. Once I had the vocals recorded, I could then arrange it all and add some other supporting elements like the string swells and transition elements. I also decided to end the song with the original voice memo of me working out the chords, where you can hear that bird singing and for me, it instantly transports me to that moment.
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