BEN RIZIO OF NEON PATTERN SUNDIAL TALKS RELEASING NEW MUSIC IN A PANDEMIC



HEY BEN, SO HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE WHAT YOU DO TO PEOPLE YOU'VE JUST MET?

Just ‘musician’ usually does the job. Though some people ask what ‘my instrument’ is, and I’ll explain that I play guitar but don’t really consider myself that much of a guitarist, and more of a producer/songwriter considering that a computer is my main access point to music and has been for longer than I’ve played guitar. For people that aren’t musicians or creatives that can be a little trickier to explain.


WE HEAR YOUR DEBUT PROJECT IS ABOUT TO RELEASE, TELL US A BIT ABOUT IT.

The ‘One Moment Never Meant A Thing’ EP is the result of intermittent work spanning 2017 to 2020. To me, it’s very closely paired with my own personal growth during 2018, and then the massive shift that happened for me in 2019. I wrote all the demos by myself basically, and then reconnected with my friend Marc after splitting up as our old band. We recorded the studio product out of his house with our friends and it’s been one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done. Most of it is already out now as singles, but we’ll be dropping the remaining 2 tracks as part of the full EP this Friday which is super exciting!


WE'VE ALSO SEEN THAT YOU HAVE DROPPED A SLEW OF SINGLES IN THE SECOND HALF OF THIS YEAR. HOW HAS THAT BEEN CONSIDERING THE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT 2020 HAS PUT A LOT OF CREATIVES UNDER?

I’ve been thinking about this every now and then actually, about how the pandemic has affected me and if it was for better or for worse. For me, I often overcommit myself to whatever project I’m working on, usually to the detriment of my own state of mind. So being forced to slow down at least a little bit is not a bad thing.

Right before Melbourne’s first lockdown in February, I was trying to get a band together in anticipation of playing our first gig in May. Just looking back at that now, I so horribly underestimated how long things were going to take. When May came around, we hadn’t even released the first single, and the project hardly had a name. Seeing as though I was more than busy enough just finishing the EP and preparing everything for release at the time, to then also try and get a band together and arrange a live set was going to be stressful, to say the least. It’s all great and well being ambitious and trying to get things to happen quickly but for me it usually results in just enjoying life less.

HOW HAVE YOU DEVELOPED YOUR CREATIVE CONFIDENCE?

In 2018 I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to deliver music, but of course that kind of inner-critique just sabotages any creative work and really crippled me in a lot of ways. I barely wrote anything that year. That was where the EP started and since then I’ve developed much more of an understanding of my own creativity. I’ve learnt a different approach to accepting ideas in the initial stages of writing, and to not be so ruthless about what is good or bad before I’ve given it a chance to express itself.

On the flipside though, track 2 on the EP ‘Wendouree’ was a lot of work throughout the entire process. It just never quite clicked and we didn’t really understand what it was trying to be. And I think that came from a place of me not trusting myself enough to just write a different song in its place. My confidence was so fragile in a sense that I just latched on to the ideas I had because I didn’t believe that I could start anything better. I think if I were to be working on that song now with everything I’ve learnt, I would’ve just left it and moved onto the next idea.



ON A DIFFERENT NOTE, WHAT ARE THE BEST PLACES YOU FIND INSPIRATION?

It’s usually when and where you aren’t expecting it. Not necessarily where you don’t expect it, but just when you aren’t thinking about it. Creativity seems to happen when you’re relaxed and not trying to make anything happen. For me it’s unconventional places like trains and other people's living rooms. Studios are obviously ideal and often are, but it can be important to not force anything at any time, as it can easily kill the vibe and become counterproductive.



WHAT’S SOMETHING YOU ARE SUPER PROUD OF THAT YOU'VE MADE?

I was thinking about this the other day, and I think it’s this 20 minute ambient piece I put up on SoundCloud in June of 2019 called ‘leave the planet behind you’. It was something I just made for fun as I got more and more into ambient music that year. Since then I’ve properly realised how much I love it, and I’ve taken it down so that hopefully one day it can land on a formal release. The song has this climactic arc throughout that takes about 15 minutes to fully express itself and will probably put a few people to sleep, but it’s probably one of the best musical payoffs I’ve ever crafted.

The piece was more or less inspired by a photograph I took in Japan while travelling. It’s just this beautiful hue, and is kinda funny because my sister makes fun of me for always taking photos like that, but I think it’s gorgeous. I took it really quickly out of a bus window before the view disappeared, and I thought the photo was going to turn out rubbish because the focus wasn’t really set. But I just happened to have it on the right setting for that to happen and it’s one of my favourite photos that I’ve ever taken.

WHAT WAS THE LAST THING THAT REALLY INSPIRED YOU?

Bon Iver’s performance of ‘Beth/Rest’ at the Sydney Opera House. It’s one of my favourite songs of all time and I’ve had this version on repeat recently. Everything about it is so captivating, it feels human but texturally it’s so interesting. The arrangement is so bare but full sounding, and the vocals are so moving and the saxophone coupled with the ‘prismizer’ effect is so mesmerising. You can google ‘Bon Iver prismizer’ to find out more about the effect, but some people in the Bon Iver circle more-or-less invented it.



OTHER THAN THE LAUNCH OF YOUR NEW EP, WHAT DOES 2021 LOOK LIKE FOR NEON PATTERN SUNDIAL?

I’ve got a few exciting ideas but the only things I can be sure about are that there will be new music in some form, and there will very likely be a live debut in Melbourne at some point.



NEON PATTERN SUNDIAL will release their Debut EP this Friday 04/12

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