 Courtesy: Big Hassle
Hailing from Australia’s Gold Coast, Calan Mai (nee Jordan Lawrence) made his debut with an acoustic demo of “We’ve Got Love” in 2014. With virtually no promotion, the track soon found its way into rotation on Triple J, BBC Radio 6, and a number of college radio stations in the U.S. Having recently teamed up with producer Chris Coady, Mai released the fully realized, dynamically arranged version of “We’ve Got Love” which showcases his nuanced songcraft. The melodically light track is balanced by a heavier lyricism that while personal, offers a message of love and acceptance. Recently, Calan Mai graciously took the time to chat about the track, how Blink-182 shaped his sound, and the feeling of unconditional love despite chaos.
You were inspired by a Zeppelin loving friend to make the foray into music. So, how did you find your way from that style to the folk-pop sound you embody now? I started guitar when I was thirteen and spent my time learning to play “Seven Nation Army” and Led Zeppelin, like every kid does. At fourteen, I joined a band that played pop-punk covers from Green Day and Blink-182, a band that really spurred me along in the very beginning. I remember early on sitting down and trying to put a song together in the pop-punk style of Blink-182. I got excited because I realized that’s how it was done and that I could do it myself. Although what I write about is quite different than what Tom DeLonge sings about, in terms of chord progression, if you remove the distorted guitars and slow down the pace, there is not big a difference at all between what I do and what they do. A lot of what I learned about songwriting I learned through them. I’m not sure how exactly I got from there to here, maybe someone kind of instantly goes to folk when they sit alone with an acoustic guitar, I don’t know, but by the time I was fifteen I was writing these more folky songs. At my school, there was a teacher who would put together a compilation of songs by the students and we would all try to get on it. I had written this song, “Before I Depart” which she chose to put on it, and unbeknownst to me, she sent the song away to an Australian-wide children’s songwriting competition - and I won. That was a total surprise and brought me to the point where I realized that I might be better at this than I thought. My mom encouraged me further, wanting me to send the song to radio stations, but I didn’t let her because I didn’t like it, which is just naturally what you do – you make something, hate it, and then immediately want make something better.
You’ve made something incredibly vibrant and personal with your latest song, “We’ve Got Love.” What spurred you to be so open with your story and write it?
At the time I was writing it, I was not thinking about the world hearing it. In my mind, this song was the most succinct and simple way I could explain what it was like to be in my family. I wanted to share my situation, but then later when the song ends up a record, you realize you say the name of your brother in the opening line and talk about him dying alone. It’s a bit daunting to release something like that but I want the world to know what the song is about and that it comes from a place of love. Family turmoil can produce varied emotions. How did you feel unconditional love in a chaotic environment? The turmoil has been there my whole life, so I guess I didn’t have to strain to see things from their point of view. No matter what was going on, my family always made me feel like I was talented; they never questioned things I wanted to do, and were always so supportive, especially my mom. I didn’t have to be a certain person or achieve anything specific for them to love me. They gave me a soft place to fall and appreciated me no matter what. You can’t make people be or feel one way or fix a problem in their life; you can’t make them stay or go….you just have to love them as they are. I know I’m lucky to have them and that type of love in my life. How did you go about making the subject matter melodically joyful rather than turning into a heavy ballad? It comes back to the Blink-182 thing and a little bit of Dylan’s "Subterranean Homesick Blues." Plus, it’s not really a conscious thing, it’s just naturally what I do with my sad songs - they might be slow and sad but they’re never haunting. I did a co-write in LA and we started writing a song in a minor key and I said, ‘Oh I don’t know about this I never write songs in a minor key.’ My co-writer told me 50% of songs are in a minor key. Maybe I’ll push myself to do that down the road, but right now I love staying in that place of joyfulness. The stop-motion video for the song is incredibly colorful. It carries the vibrancy of the melody while staying true to the lyrics. Callum Scott-Dyson made that video in a matter of days. I told him that I wanted to do a visual presentation taking the lyrics fairly literally because I didn’t think you could really do anything else with the song being that it is so direct. He did an amazing job making the video a straight representation of what I am singing about. With the song and video now released, what is the next step? I’m now signed to American management and so the next step is to get here more permanently. We’re planning on an EP or album for later this year. I have a ridiculous amount of songs, so it’s almost a matter of narrowing it down and finding a direction to go in, which is obviously a good problem to have. I’m very excited to show the world more music. Website/Facebook/Twitter/Insta
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