Catch up with Eves Karydas

Julianne de Souza

min read

Eves Karydas has spent the past year cutting her teeth supporting the likes of Cub Sport, The Wombats, Dua Lipa, and George Ezra. Add to this the release of her first album summerskin and her first sold out tour across the East Coast and it’s been a big year for the Brisbane-born singer-songwriter. We caught up with Eves ahead of her national tour to talk songwriting, synesthesia, and when to expect new music.‍

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I'd like to start by talking about your summerskin tour, which kicks off in Perth. How are you preparing for it?

I’ve been here and there for the last couple of weeks, so I’m back in Brisbane for about a week to try and get a bit of rest. It’s going to be pretty intense I think! I’m doing four shows in a row starting with Perth.‍

Are there any songs in particular that you’re excited to perform live?

I’ll be performing the album in full and there are a bunch of songs that I’ve never played before, so I guess I’m excited to do that and just play the album to an audience that knows it.

You’ve supported so many artists in the past year alone, from Dua Lipa to Cub Sport and then George Ezra. Have you learned anything from all of your experience supporting other musicians?

Yeah, it’s given me the opportunity to really progress as a performer. It’s quite interesting seeing how much I’ve progressed in just the last two months, because I was in Falls Festival and I did The Wombats tour as well, so I’ve just been kind of nonstop for a couple of months. I’m really grateful to have had those opportunities, to grow and just develop. It’s cool seeing yourself progress.‍

Definitely. What’s going on in your head when you’re on stage? Do you find that you’re transported back in time to when you were writing these songs, or do you like to stay focused on the crowd and in the moment?

It kind of splits between the two! I’ve been trying more and more to take it back to where I was when I wrote the songs, because it really helps me deliver them in the right way. I always keep one foot in the real world and in the present as well, which is reading an audience. Being able to respond to their energy is really important as well.‍

I love your single, Further Than The Planes Fly. What was the song writing process for that song?

That was pretty experimental actually. I wrote parts of that song backwards, like parts of the chorus and melody. They’re kind of weird and meandering, because I went through this phase where I would just sing random stuff into my computer and see if there’s anything interesting. It’s just funny thinking about that because I almost didn’t write that song. ‍

It sort of just came to you?

Yeah. I had to be doing that exact thing that day to come up with that. It could have been wildly different. That song was also written very quickly. The melody and the words all just kind of came together at once because it was very much about a very specific emotion, so I just tapped in to capture it in that day, which is really cool.‍

Today you released the video for Wildest Ones. Where did the idea for the video come from?

I really needed it to be intimate and personal, and I just wanted it to be me and my friend who went and shot it. The song talks about opening yourself up and realising how you behave in a relationship dynamic, and choosing to be bold and uninhibited. I was like, all right, what’s the simplest way of portraying that concept? I thought, okay, well I have to peel off my clothes, because it portrays an evolution, I think.

The heavens were smiling on us, because we had perfect weather, there was no one on that beach, and everything just seemed to fall into place. We had a really small window of time to film as well because the sun was setting, but we managed to capture it all. You couldn’t have made that up or you couldn’t have orchestrated it in any other way, so I’m really stoked on it.‍

You wrote the majority of summerskin in 2016 and 2017 in London and then you released it in September last year. Has your relationship changed with the songs? Do you go through stages of resonating with particular ones more than others?

Yeah, for sure. It’s just natural I think for that to happen regardless of how much time has passed, but I’m a different person now to who I was when I wrote it. It’s interesting having to sing them every night; it just reminds me of those times. Those were some of my happiest memories ever, so it’s not a negative thing. I’m a very sentimental person, so I’ll always cherish that sort of feeling, feeling retrospective.‍

Is there a song on the album that you’re most proud of writing?

Probably Further Than The Planes Fly and Wildest Ones. I feel like they are the bravest songs I’ve written in regards to how I was feeling and just being raw. ‍

In past interviews you’ve spoken about your synesthesia. Do you still experience that?

Yeah, I do. It’s definitely something that’s just always in the back of my head. I don’t really notice it so much; I definitely could utilise it more. It all lends itself to the same thing as just being authentic. I’d always go with colours that I liked rather than colours I didn’t like. To me now it’s just like, there are colours that I like, so there are songs that I like. I don’t know if that makes any sense.‍

What sort of color palette sums up summerskin?

Probably a lot of blues in there… Blues and golds.‍

Do you see each song as a different color or are they all similar?

No, each song has its own shade for sure. Further Than The Plane Fly is very blue. Things like Couch and Honest, they’re all these gold yellowy shades. ‍

The past few years have seen you experience a lot of firsts: your first love, your first heartbreak, your first album, and now your first tour. How does it feel to be in such a pivotal stage of your life?

It feels amazing. I just keep having to pause and then take it in. It can be really hard to be present. Sometimes in that retrospect things actually become nice memories, whereas maybe at the time it wasn’t. That’s something that I’ve always learned. Things can become nice if you just look at them the right way. I’m just still experiencing firsts and I’m still writing.