Mitch: Your sophomore album, Concrete Cowboy, just came out on 23 October. Do you mind sharing a bit about the album and the themes that can be found throughout?
Zoe: For sure. I think one of the phrases we keep coming back to when we talk about Concrete Cowboy is that there are too many tabs open.
A huge difference between recording Luster and Concrete Cowboy is that, when we made our first album, I wasn't really aware of my neurodivergence. So, with this album, there are so many things I'm unpacking and figuring out what they mean to me. Who am I when I'm unmasking? Who am I if not a workaholic?
Because Gosh, I just always had my finger in too many pies. I went from being a workaholic and having so many jobs, which were all my open tabs, to stopping and developing obsessions with learning about astrology, history and philosophy. Then I had too many tabs open in that regard. So now I'm trying to close some of those tabs and slow down. Try.
Mitch: What do you hope people feel while listening?
Zoe: I think one thing that was really dawning on me when we were putting this album together was just how hard it is to fully, from start to finish, feel out your feelings because there’s always something to do. There is always a task that you’ve got to tick off. There’s always something that you can do around the house.
And then on top of that, look outside your own little bubble of the world, and the world is on fire and falling apart. That also makes it really hard to respect yourself and the fact that you do have emotions and that you are worthy of feeling them.
So I hope that people can listen to the album and give themselves permission to feel and allow themselves that short little break to pause and do that by listening to the album. We wanted to create a little world. It feels like a little bubble that you can kind of step inside.
Mitch: If the album was turned into a movie, what would the plot be? What would the movie look and feel like?
Zoe: The protagonist would be a small-town girl moving to the city, with some sort of cool country element to her style, trying to keep up with the fast pace of city living.
It’s super fast when you’re the kind of girl who goes, “I’ll just go for a walk,” and then disappears for two hours because you’ve found a new bird. Suddenly, you’re birdwatching for two hours.
So, yeah, it would have that campy element of a small-town girl moving to the big smoke, before eventually coming home and finding her place.
Mitch: What’s your favourite memory from making the album?
Zoe: It’s hard to pick a favourite memory that isn’t just the whole two weeks we spent in the studio. We worked with Chris Collins up in the Northern Rivers, and it’s just stunning. It’s always a bit of a pinch-me moment because you get to step away from your real life. Everyone has day jobs and all that stuff, and then you wake up every day, look around, and you’re in the studio. It feels like you’re doing what you’re meant to be doing.
Another favourite would probably be writing the opening track, “Take It Over,” which is coming out as a lead single alongside the album this Friday.
We wrote that one together as a band and when I was recording the vocal ad-libs, the song just came together so easily. I was like, “Oh, just go in there and do some kind of backing vocal stuff,” and all the backing vocals you hear in the actual song came from that one take, from start to finish. I was just mucking around, and even the humming and all the background vocals were improvised. When you get songs like that, where everything just comes together so easily, it feels so good.
Mitch: Without using any genres, how would you describe the sound and style of the album?
Zoe: Ferocious, introspective, vulnerable and fuzzy.
Mitch: Why should people come along to a show? What can they expect from your sets?
Zoe: If you haven’t been to a Buoys show before, I’d say it’s a crowd of extremely wholesome and thoughtful people. I meet people all the time who say, “Oh, I came to the show by myself and now I have a new friend.” Everyone looks out for one another. They’re just a bunch of legends, and we’re so, so lucky.
The crowd is also super diverse. I often meet people who are in their 50s or 60s, and they’ll say, “Oh, thanks for showing me your band. This sounds cool. I’d come to a show, but I’ll probably be the oldest person there.”
And I’m always like, “No, we have such a huge age range!” Everyone is just their own person, and it’s really cool to see so many different types of people in one room.
Mitch: What’s the best way for people to support you and the album?
Zoe: Buying the album is huge. It makes a huge difference. If you’re able to come to a show, that is awesome too.
We’re really hoping to get the album up in the charts, so the lead-up to its release and the week after are the most important times for fans to buy an artist’s album.
Mitch: What’s one thing you’d love to manifest for your career over the next 12 months?
Zoe: I’m going to be manifesting this one specifically on stage when we support the Foo Fighters, because it’ll be our first stadium show. I’ll be manifesting our own headline stadium tour, and of course, playing Coachella, Leeds and Reading, and all the major festivals. Glastonbury, of course.
Mitch: Who are some emerging AUS/NZ musicians that people should get behind?
Zoe: I’ve been rinsing Lucky, based out of Naarm. I actually really haven’t listened to much else since Biting Heels came out. It’s just been on repeat.
I just got back from a friend’s wedding overseas and I was back for only a few hours, had a nap and went straight to the Enmore to watch her because I had never seen her play live before. I knew I wouldn’t get a chance because she’s going overseas.
So if you haven’t seen or listened to Lucky, and if you listen to Buoys, you will love her. Check her out!
RAPID FIRE QUESTIONS!!
Mitch: First album you bought?
Zoe: The first one I bought was Elephunk by Black Eyed Peas. The first CD I was given though, was a Bridget Jones’s Diary soundtrack. I got that for Christmas.
Mitch: Go-to karaoke song?
Zoe: It’s changed. It used to be “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen because you can do the crowd work thing. But the last couple of times I’ve done that, I’ve realised that maybe people my age don’t actually listen to classic rock, especially younger people. I might be one of the last. I need a new one!
I love doing anything Avril Lavigne. It’s so good. ‘I’m with You’ is the one I’ve been singing most lately at karaoke.