We get to know Aura Cools on the site today.
The Sydney native’s second ever single ‘Photograph’ has us swooning; eliciting memories of UK outfit Bent’s classy albums ‘Programmed To Love’ and ‘The Everlasting Blink’.
And given we LOVE those two albums, we kinda love ‘Photograph’ too.
But, as he tells us in the Q&A below, there’s a lot more Aura Cools goodness where that came from.
01. Name : Aura Cools (Nat Taubman).
02. Where are you based? Sydney.
03. How did you get your start in music? Aura Cools is my first original music project. We have just released our second single off a forthcoming EP. So this project is very fresh, having only launched debut single in October 2018.
04. Give us five words to best describe you as an artist. Laid back, oceanic obsessed, loopy (haha), passionate, old soul.
05. Tell us a little bit about your sound and how it developed. Aura Cools sound is a montage of multiple experiences I’ve had with music over the years. My original passion was in indie surf realms, but having DJ’d the past decade around the festival circuits I have a lot of electronic influences now whilst being underlined for an appreciation for retrospective eras of music, particularly ’70s and ’90s/2000s.
06. What’s your earliest musical memory? Piano lessons. Haha. My whole family played the piano. So I remember I was about six when I started. It wasn’t long before I convinced my mum to let me take up the drums – which I did when I was around eight.
07. Who have been your musical influences? Poolside, Parcels, Du Tonc, Metronomy.. Saying that ask me that question in a different month and I’ll give you three different answers haha.
08. What are your favourite songs of all time? ‘Seabird’ – Alessi Brothers (tough question having to refine to one) haha.
09. Where’s your favourite place to listen to music? I love to go for long walks and listen to music. I get up at 6am on Mondays to listen to my Discover Weekly on Spotify, then again on Fridays to listen to Release Radar. Then during the week when I’m at work scouring for fresh tunes and DJ mixes. By night, I have some records in my house I like to put on to wind down.
10. Who are your go-to artists when you’re feeling :
Happy? Familiar stuff – so I can sing to it (horribly) haha… Jack Johnson, Bibio, Ben Harper, Client Liaison…
Sad? I don’t get sad that often, But when I’m hungover I have this amazing song called ‘Champagne Problems’ – Dante (Hnny Remix). It goes for 25 mins and is an emotive journey which can turn any day around!
Introspective? Anything Balearic and mostly instrumental… A Vision of Panorama, Air, Guts, Jagwar Ma.
Exhausted? Mental as Anything, Crowded House, Ernie Graham, Khruangbin, The Shins, Simple Minds, Bruce Hornsby.
11. What was the first album you ever bought? I think it was U2. It was either U2 or Meatloaf haha (I think I bought a single from Meatloaf though, not the album).
12. Give us a little fun fact about yourself that people might not know. Hmmm. I’d probably say, I was on ‘Hey Hey It’s Saturday’ with a kid’s band when I was 10. We were called ‘The Young Drums’. We won Red Faces haha.. I just thought of that as my mum found the video the other day – and I hand’t thought of it for ages.
13. What would your chosen career be if music wasn’t an option? I would love to own a pub. With live music capabilities preferable.
14. What’s the best advice you’ve been given in your career? Be Intuitive.
15. If you could trade places with any artist in the world right now, who would it be? I think I’d have to say Parcels. The guys look like they are having an amazing international tour and they get to travel with their mates. I think it would be great to see the world through their eyes at the moment.
16. Tell us about your latest release. ‘Photograph’ is my second release. It’s a dreamy and quirky pop record that strives to turn any frown upside down. It has lots of raw sounds but still presented in a refined way – organized chaos haha.
Like everything in my life it draws on coastal and retrospective influeces. Music for fellow old souls out there. It has a really catchup vocal hook – but we also released a dub of the track called (Daytime Dub) for any instrumental lovers out there! Enjoy.
17. What do your future plans involve? Currently working to finish off my EP titled ‘Slow Summer’. Then looking forward to taking the EP into a show and on the road. Stay tuned!
18. Where can our audience catch you live? Currently focused on finishing recording balance of tracks for the EP. I will be playing some DJ sets full of surf records and summer stuff over the summer. So keep an eye out if that is your vibe.
WEBSITE : www.auracools.com
FACEBOOK : http://www.facebook.com/auracoolsmusic
INSTAGRAM : http://www.instagram.com/auracools
SOUNDCLOUD : www.soundcloud.com/auracools
Australia's first stop for pop!