Your sound has been called "weird" R&B. What’s weird about it?

I suppose content wise I'm probably not from a similar background and lifestyle as a lot of R&B musicians. I'm not American for one. I'm not particularly agro or scary. I'm just a young Australian guy of Spanish background. So the experiences I draw on are kind of cultural in some ways. It's different culturally I guess. I suppose my background is more like an artist than a musician. I like to play around with sound. I studied fine art, doing sound art, mainly doing installation based music, conceptual music, and process based music. In that way, I'm an artist, so I approach it in a different way.

Some have said that “indie R&B” insinuates a higher art. How important is it today for an R&B singer’s sound to be described as “indie” or “alternative”?

Well, it's R&B, but in a new refreshing way. It breaks the wall and it makes me realise a bunch of things that I thought were wrong. And it's actually forward to have a saxophone solo or a guitar solo. I think it's important for new music to be weird at first. Like the artist Grimes; when she first came out, I was like ‘what is this?’ But at the same time, it's pop music and dance music, and accessible, but in a way I didn’t know it could be. She is drawing on other influences, turning them into a new way. I think stuff should be refreshing and challenging.

Would you consider yourself an "indie" R&B musician?

I don’t think I am. I'm not doing anything because I want to succeed or because I want to fulfil expectations. I'm doing what I think is cool based on what I've observed and what my opinions are. I want to make works that I would be embarrassed about twenty years from now which I think are interesting and have some sort of merit and done well. I think what I'm doing is trying to understand myself, understand what I want to make, and do it as well as I can. I want to put in as much time as I need for it to turn out well. I don't want it to be based on trends and stuff. I also think that if you were to listen to me next to Usher, I'm not R&B to that degree. It would be cool if I did, but I really don’t know.

You incorporate an element of jazz in your music, don't you?

Well, I studied jazz guitar for years and years and I write a lot of my songs on guitar. Often I will have inversions and chord shapes that are mainly used in jazz music. But then you listen to bands like Chic; its all jazz chords. There is a lot of ways to put jazz techniques into pop and urban music.

I read somewhere that as part of your process of archiving cassettes, you write random phrases or words that relate to the beats on the tape. Do you ever come up with random words and then try and create a beat based on your interpretation of that word?

Yes. I recently thought of the phrase "the exception". It would be sick to make a song based on that word. I have tried to do what you are saying, but I've never done it successfully. I try to also imagine an idea or a film clip or a story and try to make a song about that, which is sort of similar. But that’s a really good question. I think it's important for new music to be weird at first

You have noted that chance played a major role in your production of < 3 Symbols - Beat Tape. Any chance that John Cage or Brian Eno were an influence?

I've read a lot of literature by John Cage and he is definitely without a doubt one of the most interesting and seminal artists. He's everything in a way, contemporary, post-modern music, or whatever. I mean, when I'm saying I left < 3 Symbols - Beat Tape to chance, it's not that I just recently got into John Cage and I'm inspired by him. At this stage in my career, it's just part of my background. I researched that stuff a lot at university. It's just kind of back in the mind. I'm not consciously thinking about it right now, but its always there and informs the way I talk about music and think about art. I'm not trying to be like John Cage. It's not relevant to what I'm doing; I'm doing more like 'clubby basic' music at the moment.

Would you ever do a 'clubby basic' song influenced by John Cage's "4'33" composition?

That would be funny. I mean, its one of those things that had to be done. It’s a good statement.

It's like a white canvas.

Yeah, which has been done more than once.

You have worked with Ghostpoet and Melo-X on their project Meloghost. You have also worked with Banoffee. Given your success in producing music for other musicians, why are you drawn to singing over your own beats?

I often make beats based around my singing. So the singing happens first and the beats come next. I really want to do more writing for other people. It's just one thing at a time. It's sort of like seasons, I guess. And the reason why I work on my own stuff is because it’s an outlet; I like to work alone at times.

The city of Manchester shaped Morrissey. New York shaped Nas. How has Melbourne shaped you?

Well, I was really aware of The Crystal Ballroom era in Melbourne when I was a teenager, and I was really inspired by that. I really got into the little Melbourne punk bands. I played in a few punk bands myself. And then I probably just found it really boring at some point and, you know, the things you turn away from are just as influential as the things you turn towards. So I wouldn’t be making the stuff I'm doing now if I hadn't gotten into punk and then gotten over it. Roland Howard was a big influence on me as a teen.