LOUIS WALL | INTERVIEW + TRACK REVIEW

Louis Wall writes songs the way a kid takes apart old appliances to see what makes them tick. The Auckland-raised songwriter grew up questioning the normal, seeking the truth in a house where the truth wasn't always around, and music became the one place nobody could tell him he was wrong. He watched his two older sisters own the family SingStar mic and quietly practiced "What About Me" by Shannon Noll on his own time until he could out-score them. He kept the whole thing to himself until leaving New Zealand for good, at which point becoming a stranger to his surroundings gave him permission to become serious about the thing he already knew he was.

Louis writes at least a song a day now. Somewhere along the way a friend told him to stop turning his real life into metaphors and start telling the actual stories, and once the switch flipped, so did the whole project. His songs sit at the intersection of memory and admission, the kind of writing where the singer often finds out how he feels only after he's finished writing about it. The influences are wide, the Eagles and Cat Stevens from his parents' collection, Jason Mraz learned in perfect pitch as a kid, Sticky Fingers and Home Brew and Tom Misch on his own time, all quietly stitched into a style that wants to build whole worlds around a song rather than just occupy them. In the interview below Louis talks about writing as design, why growing up made him allergic to metaphor, what it means to leave a message that outlives him, and one of the best lines about empathy we've read this year, that he can't wear everybody's shoes, but he can leave a pair of every size on his porch if someone needs them.

TRACK REVIEW - Still Be

Still Be arrives with a guitar tone that puts you straight back in the early 2000s, right down to that easy, sun-drenched feeling you'd get from a Baby Bash record. The drums stay simple and lightly distorted, hanging back where I always want them, letting the rest of the song lead. There's a slight growl in Louis's voice that sets him apart from just about anyone else in his lane. It's a voice of longing, but underneath that there's warmth, hope and quiet leadership stitched right into the lyrics.

The bass lines are wide open and unhurried, pairing with everything around them in a way that just feels homely. It's the kind of track you can settle into, and by the time it fades I'm already sticking around for the next one.

What makes Still Be land is the balance. Nothing in the arrangement is trying to grab you by the collar, which is exactly why every part earns your attention on its own terms. The vocal doesn't strain, the drums don't muscle in, the bass just breathes underneath. It's a song that trusts itself to be what it is, and that quiet self-assurance is rare from an artist this early in a run.

Louis Wall isn't chasing anyone. He sounds like someone who's already worked out what his songs are supposed to feel like and is happy to let them arrive at their own pace. Keep an ear on this one.

Your bio doesn't try to dress anything up, it just tells the truth about a family, a house, and a childhood that made you who you are. Do you think honesty is a style you had to work at, or has that always been the only way you knew how to write?

I think that I've always been someone who challenges the 'normal'. As a kid I seeked the truth a lot, I often felt like I was being lied to which in turn developed trust issues. I found that writing my truths in my music was my way of expressing the way I felt about the webs of lies some of us live in.

Music has always been my one truth, a place for me to express the way I feel without being told I am wrong, I was always shamed for being different, but now I think my unique outlook on the world is the reason my music speaks to people.

The Chevy, the bikes, the moments with your Dad. In your songs they show up as honest memories rather than symbols. When you're writing, do you consciously stop yourself from turning real things into metaphors, or does that restraint just come naturally?

Honestly for a while I feel like I actually did turn real things into metaphors, It wasn't until a friend of mine said to me one day "dude you should actually write stories about your experiences because I think people will genuinely find it interesting". I think something shifted in me that day and now it is a natural thing where I am actually sitting in my studio reliving those moments and printing them into something I can listen to forever. Once I started to be as honest in my music as I was with the world, My writing really started to click.

Growing up you learned to hold onto moments because you never knew how long they would last. That's a heavy lesson for a kid. Do you think that awareness of impermanence is what pushed you toward music in the first place, a way of making something that couldn't disappear?

I think that is a pretty good assumption to make and honestly I'd nerve really thought about it that way before, but even just reading that question I feel like that is spot on. I've always been someone that cherishes good memories and I love bringing people together. I always say, if my stories continue to resonate with people after I am gone then I have succeeded. Because even when I'm gone, my message lives on.

There's something quietly beautiful about a voice getting discovered on a SingStar mic in a family lounge room. When did you realise the singing wasn't just fun anymore, and did you tell anyone or just quietly keep it to yourself?

The funny thing about that is, my older sisters were both a lot better than me at singing, I would sit there and watch them play sing star for hours, then every now and then I'd get to hop on and sing a song, my go to was always "What About Me" - by Shannon Noel, I practiced that song every chance I got, just so I could get a good score and compete with my sisters. Funnily enough, Singstar was actually pretty good at coaching you to sing the right key!! I did quietly keep it to myself for most of my childhood to be honest, I would go on to join choirs in school and always had a passion for learning songs front to back but it wasn't until I was older that I started to take it seriously, It wasn't until I left New Zealand and became a stranger to my surroundings that I was able to really take it seriously and start putting myself out there.

Design class as the place you actually came alive says a lot about how your brain works. Do you approach songwriting more like a designer than a writer, thinking about shape, structure and what to leave out?

That is a really good question actually, I think the reason I loved design so much was because it was a place where there are no limitations to what you can create. If you can tell the story and create a world around your 'lore' then you are creating a place where you exist that is separate from day to day life, for me my music is like my own world, everything about it is unique to me and my perspective on the world. So in a way I think I approach songwriting as a writer and a designer, thinking about the entire universe I am creating around the song.

You went from learning every Jason Mraz song in perfect pitch as a kid to writing your own stuff in a basement. What was the moment your ear stopped wanting to copy and started wanting to say something original?

I've always had a lot to say, as a kid I challenged everything and always wanted to know how things worked, I was never satisfied with just consuming. I always created things growing up, I wrote short stories, I invented strange things with old appliances and wrote songs in my note pads convinced they were hits. I think I always wanted to create something original, I was always inspired by the people pathing the way and wanted to do the same in my own field. It was more about finding that passion and where I wanted to pour that energy.

Your influences stretch across the Eagles, Cat Stevens, Sticky Fingers, Home Brew, Tom Misch. That's a wide, generous listening life. Do you think growing up on music from your parents' collection alongside your own discoveries taught you something about writing that a purely modern playlist wouldn't have?

I could list so many more, I think I chose these ones because they were all at very impressionable times of my life and shaped a lot of core memories which those songs live on for me. I associate my memories with music, I have songs that I put on which take me back to all of those moments and help me to this day write about my experiences in a nostalgic way. The Eagles and Cat Stevens take me back to the start, the good memories and the bad ones, the uncertain times and the bittersweet moments.

Modern music still teaches me a lot but I think there are a lot less storytellers now. So, yeah I think I really did create my own style of writing through my listening experiences, and a big part of that was the diverse range of music I was exposed to.

You've said some things are easier to sing than to say. Have you ever finished a song and realised you'd told the truth about something you hadn't even admitted to yourself yet?

Absolutely, I think I do this a lot. I write to express my feelings and often I am expressing those feelings to myself for the first time as well, I struggle to give myself the same love that I put outwards and often neglect my mental well being. So when I write and I usually write at least a song a day, it is the time I give to myself. When I'm writing I have nothing else on my mind except to express the way I am feeling so I can help other people feel heard or seen. That motivation produces the raw emotion of my own which most of the time I haven't slowed down enough to realise yet.

In a world where feeling something is getting harder to come by, you seem committed to making people feel anything at all. Is there a particular reaction from a listener that means more to you than any streaming number ever could?

The reactions mean more to me than any stream numbers or money could, those things are just metrics and tools I can use to my advantage to reach more people and get more real reactions. I want people to feel like no matter how hard it gets there's always a space where they feel heard, I can't wear everybody's shoes, but I can buy a pair of every size and leave them on my porch if someone needs them.

"What you see is what you get, and what you hear is no different." That's a strong closing line for a bio and it sounds like a promise. Where does that come from, and how do you protect it as things around your music start to grow?

I'm not trying to be anybody, I just wanna be me. What you see in my content is really how I am everyday, what you hear in my music is the same, my feelings are my writing. I want my fans to be part of my world, to grow with me, cry with me and win with me. This is my story, and I want it to be told how it was.

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