Interview and photos // Dylan Starczak
“I dream a lot. I like to meditate a lot and just sit there and let my mind wander a bit. Once you get into that dream state, you know…you lay down long enough, you start to trip.”
Kirby just dropped his debut album, Kirby’s Dream State. Four years in the making, it’s a showcase of his unique talent wrapped up in an insight into his daily life. The 26 year old has been prolific in the Adelaide hip-hop scene for years as a rapper and producer, as well as mixing, engineering, and collaborating with countless other artists.
We sat down with Kirby to chat about the new album, the inspiration behind it, and what happens when he dreams.
The album opens with ‘Country Kid’, could you tell me more about it?
So I’m from Brinkley, I’m just a little farm boy. I always played guitar and wanted to be a musician. I moved to the city in 2016 and shit started happening. It’s a song about me getting out of my hometown and getting stuff done in a completely different city.
Back in the day I used to write sitting down in my room, but recently I’ve been writing as I walk. I go for massive walks and have the beat playing and write as I’m walking. It feels like normal everyday shit, just what I go through on a day.
Then sometimes when I’m dreaming I’ll think of a bar, and then the next day I’ll fill out the rest of it. There’s no real structure to it, it’s just whenever it comes.
The production on Kirby’s Dream State is sample heavy. It’s a taste of 90’s NYC and early 00’s Australian hip hop, with a fresh modern twist. What was your production process like for this record?
Every song is produced by me, except for ‘Pit Stop’. My homie Pet Nico did some drums and a few ideas to work with.
Most of the album is sampling. Sometimes I’ll get the guitar out and play a few notes, or a few chords and add them to the beat. ‘Savers Vinyl’ was made about four years ago. My homie Coast & Ocean was sleeping on the couch. We’d just been to Savers and got this weird vinyl. The chords are from that record, and I added some drums. Sometimes I get my friend AJ Janus who plays saxophone and he just freestyle saxophones over the beat, maybe four or five takes and I put in the sax samples from that. Sometimes there’s live instruments, sometimes there samples, sometimes there’s MIDI. Whatever fits.
The album’s name – Kirby’s Dream State – how’d that come about?
I like to meditate a lot. And just sit there and let my mind wander a bit. Once you get into that dream state, and you lay down for long enough, you start to trip. Most of my dreams are educated guesses. And sometimes they come true. Sometimes they don’t.
What advice do you have for those wanting to make music professionally?
Treat it like a job, take it seriously. If you really want to release music, just do it every day. Trying and failing is the best thing you can do. Just keep improving on what you’ve got. Just keep going until you get to a point where you’re confident and good at it. Investing in yourself is a big thing. Buy some shit. Keep going.
I’ve been producing for probably seven years now. Just trying to get to the point. I’ve always wanted to do everything myself. That was always the goal. I don’t want to need anything, I want to be able to just do it. It just took a lot of grinding and discipline.
What’s next for Kirby?
I’ve got a fair few releases under my belt ready to go, I just want to keep dropping projects, keep producing a lot, keep engineering. I like to work with a lot of other people. Always collaborating. What’s next is heaps more music, heaps more beats. I’ve got an album launch I’ll announce soon, and hopefully a Melbourne / Sydney thing as well.
Check out Kirby’s Dream State on all streaming platforms and stay tuned for his album launch show.
