Interview: Maver Chats About His Latest Offering, ‘Close Enough’

Boorloo/Perth-based electronic artist MAVER has just delivered his exceptional new electro-pop delight, ‘Close Enough’ – produced by the artist himself, mixed by Lee Buddle (Gurrumul Yunupingu) and mastered by Wayne Sunderland (What So Not, Dom Dolla, Young Franco). We had a chat with the talented producer to find out about the new single and more!

Congratulations on the new release! ‘Close Enough’ is a banger, what inspired you to write it?

Thank you very much! I’m glad you enjoy it. This song came about when I was in quarantine and had a massive surge in creativity. I wrote an idea and sent it to a friend of mine, and we bounced versions back and forth until we came up with the track. When we wrote it, it was really about the feeling of how a person can be your emotional support system and whenever you are with them, they make you feel unstoppable. ‘Close Enough’ was also inspired by the feeling of how you would do anything for this person, even putting yourself in harm’s way. At the same time, this other person being there for you on your journey and helping give you that last push you need to achieve your goals is a sentiment the song also includes.

How did you get into writing and creating music?

I’ve been experimenting with music since I was little on dad’s keyboard, and I used to make small sequences of songs because I thought it was cool. I grew up playing classical music, but I really got into the electronic stuff on the bus when I was supposed to be memorising symphonies for school.

What/who would you say are your main influences?

My influences on music change from time to time; sometimes, I will be listening to something I hadn’t heard before and want to figure out a way to make that same feeling for someone else. The artist Flume is a strong candidate for creating that feeling for me. I remember hearing ‘Say It’ for the first time and feeling blown away. That song got me into electronic music in the first place, and I haven’t looked back. I really draw from the experimental creative process and try and incorporate a different way of thinking into the music I make when I can. I tend to find this will help with writer’s block when I need that extra boost.

I hear you have some interesting performance styles. Can you tell us a bit more about that?

It’s a lot of fun! I still use my dad’s Korg M1 as my main MIDI controller on stage, which I use in tandem with Ableton to switch between different instruments automatically while performing. For vocals, I try to get as many vocalists in the performance as possible, where each vocalist will come up and down off the stage, similar to a jazz solo for each song. I’ll also switch between the keyboard, my guitar, and Ableton Push depending on the song, triggering samples, adding fx, and playing a solo or the chords of the particular track. It requires a lot of focus, but I have an absolute blast.

Do you have any live shows planned anytime soon?

At this current moment, I don’t have any planned live shows. However, I am revising a live performance to perform eventually.