Get to know blüsh, a brand new Sydney artist who recently dropped his very impressive debut single ‘Don’t Lie’.
Although the track’s about a girl who was in it for the attention rather than the love, that girl presumably isn’t blüsh’s current girlfriend, who contributes the gorgeous vocal here.
It’s an ultra smooth slice of pop, soul and electronica all rolled into one and we’re super impressed.
Given it is blüsh’s debut, we decided to reach out and ask our 20 probing questions. And here’s his 20 answer callback.
So join us as we get to know blüsh!
01. Name : blüsh or Ben Medveczky.
02. Where are you based? Sydney.
03. How did you get your start in music? I started learning piano and drums from a young age and played in a few bands in and outside school. For an assignment for my music class in year 11 I had to write a song and loved the experience so much that I didn’t stop. I had never considered a career in music before then.
04. Give us five words to best describe you as an artist. Moody, spacey, electronic pop producer.
05. Tell us a little bit about your sound and how it developed. I like to think that my sound is an amalgamation of all the music I have listened to during my life, and it’s expressed in an electronic format because that’s the easiest way to create something without needing help from others too much.
I like taking time with songs, and working by myself trying new things. Sometimes working with others there’s a pressure to do something that you know will probably work rather than experimenting with something that might not. In a nutshell though, it’s probably just moody electronica.
06. What’s your earliest musical memory? My step-dad has a huge CD collection where I grew up and there was always something playing. I have a playlist on my Spotify now called ‘Songs That Get My Step-Dad’s Heart Pumping’, which are songs that remind me of those times. I tried it out on my step-dad and it’s aptly named; he loves it.
07. Who have been your musical influences? I grew up in the Blue Mountains and one of my close friends who I now live with and play with in Boomchild, Finbar, is the brother of one of the Hermitude duo. They were a huge influence on my sound and my ambitions in music. I’ve hung out with them on multiple occasions and they are the nicest guys. I’ve been able to get some second hand production advice from Finbar which has been helpful.
The electronic scene in Australia as a whole is actually super impressive and inspiring to me; Flume, Chet Faker, George Maple, Taku, Flight Facilities, Alison Wonderland, Avalanches, Empire Of The Sun etc. It would be great to one day be on that level.
I take a lot of inspiration from all genres and time-periods of music as well. There’s always something to learn.
08. What are your favourite songs of all time? My top five favourite songs of all time would have to be ‘Kids’ by MGMT, ‘1998’ by Chet Faker, ‘Lisztomania’ by Phoenix, ‘Swimming Pools’ by Kendrick Lamar and ‘You Only Live Once’ by the Strokes.
09. Where’s your favourite place to listen to music? I’ll listen to music anywhere. I skate a lot though and it really complements that well, so I’d say skating somewhere.
10. Who are your go-to artists when you’re feeling :
Happy : MGMT.
Sad : The Strokes.
Introspective : Beach House.
Exhausted : Billie Holiday.
11. What was the first album you ever bought? The first album I ever bought was ‘Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix’ by Phoenix. I lost it, but my friend bought it for me again later on. It’s probably my favourite album ever, and I have a tattoo inspired by the cover on my ribs.
12. Give us a little fun fact about yourself that people might not know. My dad’s side of the family run a small sheep farm which I was born on, and I used to do pony club and stuff when I was a teenager.
13. What would your chosen career be if music wasn’t an option? The grandparents on my dad’s side that run the farm really wanted me to be a vet, so I guess I’d do that if I couldn’t do music. I love animals a lot so I wouldn’t mind, but I’m really bad with needles and stuff so maybe not.
14. What’s the best advice you’ve been given in your career? Pretty early days in my career, but I had some really good advice from my friend Murli (who is also a creative but does film and editing) who recently told me that I shouldn’t try to compare myself to others, which I think is super important in this society where everyone is constantly aware of how many likes something has, how many followers, how many streams. It doesn’t help to compare, just try to be the best you can be.
15. What’s been the highlight of your musical journey so far? I have another project with my friends Finbar and Riley called Sumatra, and we were able to open for Hermitude’s hometown show in Blackheath. That was super fun.
16. What’s been the strangest experience you’ve had in the business? For one of the Boomchild gigs we accidentally got booked for a tea house gig which we thought was a regular gig. When we showed up it was just heaps of old people sitting down having a classy dinner and we had to adjust our whole set which was originally really high energy. It was a mess.
17. If you could trade places with any artist in the world right now, who would it be? Right now I think Dominic Fike is killing it. I loved his latest album. He combines a lot of my favourite music; hip-hop, rock, pop, R&B. Also his voice is amazing. To have the resources and natural ability to make that kind of genre-bending music would be awesome.
18. Tell us about your debut release. I wrote the song about a girl who I was really into but who liked the attention I gave her rather than liking me. I think it’s a pretty relatable situation to know that you shouldn’t waste your time on someone but can’t help seeking their approval and affection.
Sonically the inspiration came from songs like ‘3’ by Flume, ‘Wishful Thinking’ by BENEE and ‘High You Are’ by What So Not (Branchez Remix).
Fortunately, my girlfriend Alana Patmore helped me by singing and refining some of the melodic lines, I am very grateful to her for that because I can’t sing at all.
19. What do your future plans involve? I just want to keep releasing music. I waited a long time before this single and I don’t plan to wait that long again. I’m also really excited to work with different people, hopefully I’ll be able to do that.
20. Where can our audience catch you live? Because of the current situation I don’t have any solo gigs lined up, but if you follow my socials you’ll be able to see when things get back to some normality.
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INSTAGRAM : https://www.instagram.com/blush_aus/
SOUNDCLOUD : https://soundcloud.com/blush_aus
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