Tex Crick on the Experiences, Places and Objects that Influenced His New Album ‘Sweet Dreamin”

October 22, 2023

Tex Crick‘s new album is the thoughtful, playful and sentimental Sweet Dreamin’. It’s Crick’s second full-length album and the second release to come out via Mac DeMarco’s homespun imprint, Mac’s Record Label, following Crick’s 2021 debut, Live In… New York City.

Crick, who grew up in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, wrote and recorded much of the LP in his modest home studio in Tokyo. The songs on Sweet Dreamin’ revolve around Crick’s earnest and inviting baritone and unflashy piano playing.

Tex Crick: Sweet Dreamin’

To coincide with the album’s release, Crick tells us about the experiences, places, objects and phenomena that influenced its creation.

Dreams

Tex Crick: The record references dreaming all throughout – night dreams, daydreams, lifelong dreams. I’m a dreamer. There isn’t much more to it. Keep on dreaming.

Singing

Tex: I really got comfortable with singing on this record. Before Live In… New York City, I had never tried singing over my own music. That record was sort of an experiment to see if I could do it.

It made me realise you don’t need an amazing singing voice, you just have to mean what you’re singing about and people will recognise that. So, me being more confident in the way I use my voice helped this record to be what it turned out to be.

Cinema Programs

Tex: For some reason there are heaps of these cinema program booklets for sale everywhere in Japan. Each maybe has about 10 pages of nice stills from all different old movies. I like to look at pictures while I write music, so I buy these and I stare at my favourite scene from whatever movie fits my mood. I can’t read sheet music, so it’s nice to look at something.

The Attic

Tex: I’ve got my little studio setup in the roof of our Tokyo house. This is where I pen my songs and record the most. The sun beams in around 4pm and lights up the room with gold. I love it.