This or that...

WITH SINGER-SONGWRITER EMMA LOUISE.

Home or away? I would definitely rather stay home – that’s where everything happens for me. I hardly ever go out, really. I love playing shows and performing, but when you go on tour there’s a lot of travel, waiting around and general unrest. It’s pretty exhausting. I usually go to bed at like 8.30pm!

Childhood or adulthood? I would say adulthood. There was a bit of a rough patch going from childhood to adulthood – some growing pains. It’s weird, I don’t think I’ll ever feel like a full-blown adult – I don’t think I really want to – but learning things on my own is exciting, and knowing I can grow into the person I want to be, if I choose.

Music – job or way of life? Way of life, definitely. When you’re writing and making music for the right reasons, everything kind of revolves around it. You pick things up that happen in your daily life and turn everything into music. Painting or pottery? At the moment, pottery. I bought a pottery studio when I was in LA last year. I moved there after I’d finished writing my new album Lilac Everything, and wanted to take a break. I found this whole pottery studio on sale for super cheap. I love it so much – it’s taught me that technique and patience are really important. With a lot of art, I feel my way around it, but with pottery it’s different, because in order to express yourself you have to learn the technique really well, then the creative part comes later.

Bottling things up or cracking the shits? Literally, as soon as I feel something, I have to let it out. And if there’s no one around to let it out to, then I write or make something with those feelings. I’m definitely an expressive person; I pretty much can’t keep anything in.

Beer or wine? Wine, all the way and back! I love it – it’s one of my favourite things about life. I wouldn’t say I know anything about wine, but when I find a really nice one I stick to it for a while. Right now, I’m loving one called Bonics – it’s made by a scientist in Melbourne, and it’s the best I’ve ever had. It’s organic, and you don’t get a hangover.

Mexico or Seattle? I enjoyed recording Lilac Everything in Seattle, but I have a pretty special relationship with Mexico. This one night, I was pretty sad in Melbourne and decided to fly to Mexico; then, two days later, I was there and wrote the album. I’ve been back maybe seven times in a year or so. I think it’ll be a place I’ll just keep going back to.

Your old stuff or your new stuff? I think I’ll always like my new stuff better, because I’m growing as a songwriter, and I relate to it more when it’s fresher. I try not to be critical of my old music, though – I’m grateful that I can even make music at all. I think it’s beautiful that any artist can look back and listen to what they were experiencing at a certain point in time.

Indoors or outdoors? I just got a farm outside Byron Bay, and I love being outside, gardening and maintaining a bigger property. But right now it’s pretty cold, and I love getting cosy, as well. The space inside my home is very special, because that’s where I do most of my writing and making and things. So, I’m going to say indoors, because I’m a Cancerian, and getting cosy is the best!