Vancouver Sleep Clinic reveals new track 'Ayuhuasca' - premiere

New music to listen to this week

Credit: Press (Credit: Press)

Vancouver Sleep Clinic's Tim Bettinson has been making ambient bedroom pop songs since 2013 that fall somewhere in between Bon Iver and The Japanese House.

After releasing his debut album Revival last year, the Australian-based musician is back with new music

But this time: he's on his own, parting ways with the major label that put out his 2017 record.

Now, the 21-year-old is putting music out on his own terms once again.

We're premiering the track "Ayuhuasca" - Bettinson says of the song, ”'Ayahuasca' is a world that I lived and breathed in over a weekend in my little studio apartment in LA. I bought a bunch of food, shut the blinds, lined the walls with LEDs & locked myself into a journey for three days.

"It's the song I've always wanted to make but never been brave enough to. Something that defied any normal expectation and allowed me to express every inch of what i was feeling at the time. A place where you can shut your eyes for 8 minutes and escape reality."

Listen to the premiere of "Ayuhuasca" below:

Q&A with Vancouver Sleep Clinic

What are you listening to at the moment?

You know it’s weird, for the last year that i’ve been writing i’ve really been trying to avoid other music. I found myself subconsciously channelling influences into my songs in the past, so I wanted this project to be as purely me as possible. Brockhampton & Jaden Smith have put out a couple of my favourite projects in a long time though.

What are your plans for 2018?

I don’t want to give away too much but I had the whole of 2017 to prepare for this so you can expect a lot of content and eventually a lot of shows.

What was the first gig you ever played and what’s been the best so far?

The first gig I ever played as Vancouver Sleep Clinic was towards the end of high school when I was 17. All I wanted was to share the experience with as many of my friends as possible, so naturally I put together a six-piece band with my friends from school (one of whom had been learning an instrument just to play). I was so insanely nervous and we probably sounded terrible but I got those memories for a lifetime. Following that show we piled into the family car that my dad drove down the East coast for a tour. We stayed in caravan parks the whole way! Started from the bottom.

The best show I’d have to say was one that we played a couple years ago at Sydney Opera House opening for Angus & Julia Stone. It’s something you don’t even dream of as a kid in Australia, and to play there was just absolutely surreal. In the last song we were rocking out, and I tripped over my guitar cable onto the ground and tried to recover by playing the final riff on my knees. I’m sure it looked lame but it felt so special so I didn’t even care.

What other collaborations can we expect for the record?

Expect to be surprised! One of my main focuses for this project is to get out of my comfort zone, and for that reason I’m trying to work with a lot of people that my fans wouldn’t necessarily expect! I'll also be putting out another track with my friend Raury in a couple weeks, we've gone way back so it was sick to get together with him again and make something new.

What was the writing and recording process like?

It was amazing and very important for me as person. I was completely brain dead and lifeless for 2016: I hardly even touched a song. But when I learned to channel that weakness into music, everything came in such a flurry. I would get a song out every day, sometimes even multiple. It was then I realised I had so much to get off my chest; anger, frustration, self-pity, confusion, confessions, thoughts, observations and prayers. The whole process was healing and cleansing. I also got to work with some amazing people and there were so many magic nights in the studio I’ll remember forever. Writing these songs helped me fall in love with music and life again.

How will this new set of music differ from the previous batch?

The beauty of this bunch of music is that I went into it having absolutely no expectation or direction. I was at a low point in my life where after a year of losing battles, I simply needed to make music again to get myself out of trouble. It was just instinct: no money, no label, nothing to live up to. Whatever came out was just exactly what I needed to make at the time.