Hector Morlet's music makes us feel good. The Australian producer and multi-instrumentalist's smooth falsetto dances atop his groovy, retro-infused beats. Tomorrow, Hector's debut EP Music For Squares will be released, six songs that perfectly encapsulate his genius, hitting that sweet spot on every track. We spoke to the Perth-based musician about the new project, his influences, and paper-maché aliens, of course:

Congratulations on the EP - you’re very talented. Why the title  ‘Music For Squares’ ? 

"I thought it would be funny. I mean it’s cheesy but I learned a lot about song writing and the craft of music while I made this EP. I thought a lot about cliches as a way to understand what it means to make good music and I found out that it’s pretty important to me. It can also be a lot of fun. I also thought that there are some goodies in the music if any squares want to dig into the songs a little bit."

The project definitely achieves what you wanted it to - it is deeply sincere but a light-heartedness dances amongst it too. Why was it important for you to “straddle the line between cliche and originality”?

"I think that when a songwriter writes a song, they’re forced into either accepting and rejecting thousands of cliches at once. They’re making so many decisions in one fell swoop whether they realise it or not and it sounds difficult but it can be fun to play around with it all. I think the mix of sincerity and light-heartedness is just a result of that. Thinking about stereotypes and cliches is important to me because it helps to answer the question “what is good music?” And although it doesn’t fully answer it, it’s one of my guiding lights."

What did completing and (almost!) releasing this EP mean to you? What did you learn on the journey of Music For Squares?

"Completing the EP meant tying the bow off on a neat little package of time and effort and thought and love. It means the end of stressing over something I was really passionate about at one point and moving onto the next thing. Not that I’m not passionate about it now, it’s just that writing songs is always kind of like a bad romance. It’s red-hot (cue eyebrows going up and down) and fun at the start and the excitement is overwhelming but steadily we lose our zeal and I start seeing the faults shine through. It can get stressful if it goes on too long, but that’s because I care about the songs. But I learned how to get songs from half-baked to written, recorded, produced and mixed well enough. I learned how the sausage got made all the way to the twisty end."

Love that. Is there a song you’re most proud of on the project?

"Each of the songs has different elements of progress for me as a song maker. I learned a lot about arrangement when I was making Picture Frame and Staying Up Late. Goodbye My Dear shows progress in my writing while Precious Dragonfly and Surprise! shows my progress in understanding harmony. I was thinking a lot about cliches while making Surprise! I like each of the songs for different reasons."

Tell us about your musical journey. When did you begin writing, singing etc? Which instruments do you play?

"I start playing classical piano when I was pretty young (like 8/9 or so) and then I stopped practicing at some point in high school so I switched to jazz. That was really fun and got me messing around on the piano at home and making up little things. I started making beats and songs on Logic when I was still in high school. Actually, Jack Annear - who plays bass in the band - and I became friends because of it. We went to the same school and it was so amazing to meet another person who was making music like me. I used to sing in choirs in school ahahah kinda lame but I really liked it and taught me a lot. Then I left school and made a band with some friends around the music of friend Jack Davies. We called ourselves the ‘Bush Chooks’ and have had to live with it for the past five years HA. I started learning to play bass and drums at some point. I borrowed my friend’s Sammick bass and my cousin’s old drum kit (before - twist of events - my aunty wanted to start playing drums). I made a band with a few of the best musicians/people (in my humble opinion) in Perth and started playing gigs around Perth around two years ago. The barrier to being a ‘real’ musician was to release a song and do a ‘single launch’ show (something very common in Perth), but I’d already been making stuff and putting it out on Soundcloud for years. I passed that arbitrary hurdle in July last year and I guess I’ve tried to earnestly release music since then (starting with a 6 track EP)."

How did growing up in Perth shape your sound? 

"I’m biased but there’s so much good music in Perth. I can’t really justify why. Maybe it’s because we’re small and all the different styles of music get mixed up since there are only so many live music venues. Maybe it’s because we’re isolated like a Petri dish hanging off the backside of an elephant. Either way I just really like the music here and I’ve learned a lot from the musical diversity of this small community."

We have read you make beats. Did you produce this EP yourself? Who did you work with?

"Yeah I produced it myself. Ben Clapin (and talented member of the live band) played clarinet on three of the tracks and Jack Seah helped me to mix the first three singles. Jack had a big impact on the sound of Picture Frame and was a terrific collaborator to work with and learn from. Crystal Mastering mastered the first two songs and William Bowden mastered the remaining four."

Who are your influences? Were you inspired by any artists/writers/producers in particular for this debut era?

"Darondo, Faye Webster, Homeshake, Hiatus Kaiyote, Alex Izenberg, Nick Hakim, Thundercat, Connan Mockasin, and Alice Phoebe Lou were all big influences for the EP among others that I can’t remember right now. Kick Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Kevin Ayers, Mild High Club, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson and Harvey Sutherland are some of my forever influences." 

Who would you love to collaborate with in the future?

"Anyone in my list of influences above! If I like their music then I’m keen to collaborate."

What’s something other than music that you’re loving/passionate about right now?

"I have been far too passionate about the X-Files. Mulder and Scully and all the paper maché aliens and stuff, yesssss."

Music For Squares drops tomorrow on all platforms.

@hecmmmm