Queensland Music Awards (QMAs) nominee Hannah Karydas – aka Eves the Behavior – credits Joni Mitchell’s album ‘Blue’ as teaching her how to paint pictures with words.
This is fitting for an artist with synesthesia, meaning that she sees music in colour. ‘Blue’ was the first time she had heard an artist blame themselves for their pain, rather than pushing responsibility onto others. She realised then that artists could choose how they present themselves to the world, and could choose to be open and honest.
The honesty of Mitchell’s work is a strong theme running through Eves the Behavior’s current project. She has been in London for the past few months recording her first album. “Making my first record is such an important thing in my life, and I really want it to be as much of an honest expression of who I am and what surrounds me as possible,” she says.
Karydas says that working with friends on the album has moved her music in a different direction. “I have far less stress and ‘the zone’ is much more forthcoming and honest and I just want to have fun! That’s definitely making this next body of work a whole lot lighter and a bit more.
"I hate to use the word ‘cheerful’… but it is a bit more cheerful! It makes me feel good rather than it being dark and brooding. It’s quite a significant aesthetic shift that I’m really excited about.”
Feeding into her creative energy has been the rapidly changing circumstances she’s found herself in of late. One of her favourite Alain de Botton quotes is: “people only get really interesting when they start to rattle the bars of their cages”. A few, big changes have certainly rattled hers: not only working in London, but also ending the relationship with her long-term boyfriend. All these upheavals have only given her new material and fuelled her productivity.
While she may be in the UK for now, Eves the Behavior remains extremely proud of her Sunshine State roots. That makes being nominated for the QMAs even more special. “I’m a Queenslander through and through,” she says. “[Being nominated] makes me miss home, and it makes me really proud of my state because of how many nice people are also nominated. It’s really impressive how many successful artists are coming out of Queensland. Being counted among that is really lovely.”
In addition to being nominated for Best Pop Song, two of Eves’ music videos have been nominated. She is a very visual person, perhaps in part due to her synesthesia. This way of looking at the world has been very helpful when putting videos together. She is constantly aware of colour and the shades she wants her videos to be bathed in.
In keeping with the recent evolution of her music, the colours of her videos are changing too. “I have definitely seen a shift in colours in the last couple of months, it’s been very much a transition from night into morning,” she explains.
Eves the Behavior has this advice for Queensland musicians looking to break into the industry. “I’d urge them to just do them,” she says “Don’t focus on trends, explore as much as you can: music from different cultures, music from different times. Just get inspired and you’ll find what you like.”
The 2016 Queensland Music Awards will be held at Brisbane Powerhouse 21 March.
