How have your experiences touring around NSW and playing alongside artists like Death by Denim and Sesame Girl influenced your music and performance style since your last release?

I think when you have a craft or profession that you’re passionate about you’re always looking out for inspiration, whether its conscious or subconscious. Every artist I see it’s like my brain catalogues what they do well and I let that inspire how I write or envision performance.

One thing that these kinds of artists influence is the fact they have such a distinct style and vibe. They’ve taught me that you kind of lean into a version of yourself in order to perform how you want. They’ve also taught me how to be a better front person and be more myself, because your differences make you stand out.

We’ve played a lot of great shows, but also a lot of not so great shows, and the not great ones thicken your skin but also an opportunity to not stress about the performance. The good ones help you keep going as a musician.

Paper Planes’ tackles themes of daily complaints, existential issues, and relationship fumbles. Can you dive deeper into the personal experiences and emotions that inspired these lyrics?

This song is kind of me having a big sook at the world. It started when I was on a train wishing I had a pen and paper and being frustrated at myself. Then the song really developed when I was sitting in my little Newtown town house trying to record a voice memo of the first verse when a plane rudely flew over my head, destroying my recording and my train of thought. As it did so, I added in a lyric ‘Fuck that plane that just went over my head’, and that lyric stuck.

It was sort of meant to be in a way, because the planes flying over my head all the time became a metaphor in the song for a few things. Firstly, that I wasn’t on a plane and I was stuck in my house doing my life of uni and work. Secondly, that some things don’t go over my head like hurtful words or wrongness in the world, but I almost wish they did. Thirdly, that I have pressure and worry over my head about making my music dream work and about being a good person and friend.

I was a little tired of being underestimated and perceived as weak, especially after a rough patch mentally. I was angry at myself for letting my own mental problems get in the way of relationships and my creativity.

I think this song speaks to a lot of young people in their 20’s, where they feel like the world should be at their fingertips yet they feel like they’re stuck working or trying to afford to live or studying, and the reality of the real world has kicked in. You’re not a teenager anymore and you have to actually do things for yourself, because no one else will. And while this is all happening, you’re trying to figure out who the hell you are and who the hell your people are and how to make your big teenage dreams come true. Where you discover and un-discover yourself hundreds of times.

Paper Planes is getting angry at all this. I’m telling the world I want more.

How does 'Paper Planes' reflect the overall sound and ethos of Left Lane? Does it mark any significant shifts in your musical direction or thematic focus compared to your previous work?

Paper Planes reflects the Left Lane ethos of embracing anything. Our songs have such a range of thematic content and emotion, going from grungier textures to ethereal feels. I feel like we are all pretty sporadic individuals, so we tend to have heaps of topics covered in our songs, and in the past have had a range of sounds, but something that’s really stuck is our ability to get mad, sad, or existential about stuff, and it really shows in our best songs.

Paper Planes is the start of our shift to embracing this edgier, grungier vibe, with ethereal feels. Since our lineup change last year, we’ve been working on an altered vibe that caters to the added sax and keys.

This vibe is gritty and unapologetic. We have sounds that people on either side of the rock spectrum will like. This will be displayed more in our shows and releases.

What were some of the challenges and highlights during the production of 'Paper Planes'? Were there any particular moments in the studio that stand out to you?

Production really showed me what excellent musicians my band mates are. They made the process way smoother in the short amount of time that we had.

Tas and Liam were not in the band at the point of recording, but after a day of workshopping they had both came up with some really fitting and catchy parts. Ethan our drummer is always super locked in and never takes long with his takes. He then becomes the studio mascot while we all record - morale is crucial! Darby is a bit of a musical mastermind and created heaps of cool guitar effects and layers and helped compose with Tas and Liam. For myself (Avril) Paper Planes challenged me, I really had to tap into an angrier and stronger vocal style that I hadn’t planned for the song, but was exactly what the song needed. It took me quite a few takes to realise what was missing too (sorry to my band mates).

When we first listened back it sounded SO different to how we originally had it, and to be honest it threw me off. But thats just a little syndrome of adjusting to change, and as it turns out the song sounds way better for it. We workshopped it with the guys at DROP studios

From your recent tours around NSW are you able to nominate 3 local artists you're loving to our Next Wave Playlist?

We’d LOVE to nominate Platonic Sex, Denim on Her, and Creeping Jenny!

Looking ahead, what are some goals or milestones Left Lane hopes to achieve by the end of 2024? Are there any collaborations or new directions you're excited about exploring?

We would love to play a festival, I think that’s a definite goal. We’ve dabbled in the festival realm, having played the Yours and Owls New Years Eve Festival, and the Tumut River Tap Days Festival, however we want to expand our audience into some of the more well known ones.

We are excited about showing the scene our altered sound too. We’re really just aiming to grow our audience and get heard by whoever will listen.