M!GRAIN // The Darker Side Of Sound

Back in 2020, we were lucky enough to have a chat with M!GRAIN, a musical multi-talent with a serious penchant for bending the boundaries of sound.

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Over the last few years and dozen or so tracks, the Sydneysider has dabbled in psychedelic rock, electronic pop and everything in between. With his 12 tracks in 12 months project, he dipped his toes into traditional rock waters. And now, he’s mixed it up again, embracing his grungier side on his latest offering, Through an Hourglass.

We caught up with M!GRAIN (Joshua Zesach) to dig into what inspired the track and more.

Hysteria: Hey Josh! What have you been up to since our last chat?

Josh: I’ve been trying to make more music and just keeping on with it. Last year, I released a song a month for 12 months; that was hard. It helped me hone in on my sound and embrace the rock side.

We’d love to dig into your new single, Through an Hourglass. What inspired it sonically?

It was super dark. I’ve battled with depression for the last few years, and I actually overcame it. It was almost like a diary entry where I spoke about what I was worried about and what I was thinking. Then COVID hit, and I was like, well this might be the time to write about how I was feeling. Musically, I wanted to do a ballad that I hadn’t done before. My release Sweet of You was kind of ballady, like a Slash kind of vibe. But this track was darker. The lyrics are dark, so I wanted to hone in on that and go with a really eerie, melancholy vibe. 

Let’s dig into the lyrical inspiration a little more.

It was pretty much my experiences. With COVID going on and people not seeing each other, it really cleared the fog. People in your life are either there to stay or passing by. There’s a lyric in the song that says, “have my friends gone away / is there a cure”. There was so much unknown with the first couple of lockdowns, and that was the inspiration. I just wrote down my thoughts and felt they were dark and went with the song.

The lyrics are dark, so I wanted to hone in on that and go with a really eerie, melancholy vibe.
[ M!GRAIN ]

You’ve experimented so much over the years. Do you think you’d be able to distil the M!GRAIN sound into a few words? 

It’s funny. I’ve been trying to get a band together. We had a setlist going on, we started doing acoustic gigs, and then everything started getting cancelled. With everything going on, we just decided to put the brakes on until we knew we could go all out. I don’t want to do a show where it’s just me and a loop. It won’t have the energy I want, and you’ve got to have a band to do that kind of stuff, especially with rock. You need the live boom from the drums. You need it to hit you in the chest. I think the rock stuff will be a lot better live, and that’s what led me towards writing more of it.

I love music, no matter what it is. But it was actually my dad that told me I’d played rock all my life, and I was a guitarist. He said: “you have a masters in guitar and songwriting, so why don’t you just do that?’” I thought, okay, I’ll release some tracks and see how I go, and it’s helped me realise I’m supposed to be in a band environment with heavy rock or something going on.

What’s next?

I’m going to try to do gigs and get the band coming together. I’m not going to release as much music this year. 12 in 12 months was a lot! But there will be a lot more gigs, hopefully, and a lot more video content. I want to show people who I am and who is behind the music. There’ll be a lot more me.

Purchase and stream here.