The moniker of Tim Bettison, Vancouver Sleep Clinic found an artistic inner peace during the writing and recording of his latest album 'Fallen Paradise'.
The Brisbane artist conceptualised the record while in Australia, but relocated to London at the start of 2021 working alongside producer Charlie Perry (Jorja Smith, BTS).Mixing elements of rowdy indie rock, sophisticated folk, bumping R&B, sweeping film soundtracks, the ten tracks on 'Fallen Paradise' present an artist who has fully grasped their own creative abilities to craft music that features expansive storytelling paired with elegant productions and stylish arrangements.
"This is the first time I've really reached full peace with myself as an artist," shares Tim. "I think that just being in that whirlwind of seven, eight years has just been relentless.
"Naturally, for anyone going from that period of being a teenager to their mid-20s, it's a crazy period of change.
"I never gave myself that time to be at peace with who I was or with what I wanted to be doing. I think that's the biggest thing with this album, I had the time to just reflect on everything, who I'd become.
"I began to trace back the roots of why I wanted to start making music. A lot of that got lost along the way, as it naturally does when things get crazy.
"It was a chance for me to step back and fully try and get a grasp on what it is and what the essential core of me doing this was; what made it so enjoyable and cathartic for me.
"Finding the source of that and using it in the next project; taking my time and making sure that the next project is exactly what I wanna do. It's the most at peace I've been with something I've made and probably the most fun I've had. It just sounds like me."
Usually relocating to the city the size of London would have afforded Tim plenty of activities to keep himself occupied when he wasn't recording. However, the pandemic changed the landscape and left Bettison with not many options. Here he lists five!
"Not gonna lie, there wasn't a whole lot more than five to pick from and they are far from exciting but these are some of the things I was doing to stay sane over the four-month album recording process in a locked-down London."
1: Midnight Runs
Honestly, this is the first and potentially only time when I've looked forward to running – so that should tell you something about the tedium of the situation.I've always been a big night person and there was something really thrilling about going for runs on these freezing cold nights after we'd wrapped up in the studio. I'd have all of this pent-up energy from standing/ sitting around all day and the cold just makes you want to get it over with as soon as possible.
So I'd be flying (probably by my own standard only) around with the city lights and a synth-wave playlist blaring feeling like I was the only person in the world – it was sick.
2: Reading in the Bath
Again, never been a bath person at ALL but the pandemic in general really helped me to slow down and to take it a lot easier on myself, which was all in all a very necessary and much overdue lesson.I read through an absolute tonne of books during the 4 months (I think close to 20) and a fair chunk of them were read in the bath. I think one of my favourites was 'Hyperion' by Dan Simmons.
3: Walking Through The Park
I would end up doing this most days on the 20-minute walk from my Airbnb to the studio, however it would often end up being closer to an hour as I detoured through this beautiful, massive park right near my house, often listening to the ideas we'd been working on over the previous week and trying to come up with lyrics.I also really enjoyed this because it was practically the only time in the day where I'd get to see other real humans, so that was nice.
4: Chess Training
Anyone that knows me well probably knows that for quite some time I've been a massive chess nerd, but until this point I'd been running off nothing but intuition and feeling – which can only get you so far!Being the competitive person I am, I was tired of getting nowhere so I bought some theory books and started learning more about the game. I even got a bit of coaching over Zoom for a little while.
I've learnt recently that it's really important for me, someone whose livelihood is founded in creativity, to have a side hobby or something that I can see myself objectively getting better at over time for those days/ weeks/ months where you feel creatively uninspired.
5: Watching Premier League
Thank the Lord that in spite of the dire circumstances he continued to provide us all with his greatest gift to mankind – football.I've always been a massive fan of the Premier League but there's absolutely nothing better than being in a feasible timezone for watching it (unlike the 4am kickoffs in Australia); and with not a whole lot else going on I ended up bingeing soooo many games on the weekends.
Teams that I cared about or not even – I got football fever! The other people in my Airbnb were Liverpool fans (bless their poor souls), so naturally there was a lot of banter, and at the time complaining, going around the house.
