When describing the musical style of Spoonbill, aka Jim Moynihan, it's a feat unto itself.
Electronica with lashings of swing, jazz, blues, funk and groove all recorded with live instruments would be the shorthand version.Perhaps 'the Salvador Dali of electronica' paints a more accurate picture of the surreal and quirky musical feasts that Spoonbill cooks up.
"It's quite quirky, and not super conventional. Glitchy and jovial, but sort of positive and wonky," Spoonbill elaborates, perhaps due in part to his freeform compositional style.
"All the instrumentation is purposefully recorded for the tracks. I'll have a chord progression and some beats and a bassline in a rough state, and my friends who I've been collaborating with for years will come to my studio and jam over it for however long, and we'll record that.
"Then we'll listen together and take snippets of the bits that we thought were really great out of that freeform, expressive take. And then re-record those or harmonise and double track them.
"Sometimes I recreate new lines by taking a note or a runner note from here and there, and occasionally I end up with something unplayable, which can be funny for my friends.
"I'm just instinctively following my nose to craft something that makes sense at the time. I can end up down a rabbit warren, but that exploratory process is enjoyable.
"Having a clear plan and executing that and bringing that to fruition has merit, but sometimes exploring something can be really rewarding and you create something that's incredibly unique through that process."
Spoonbill will be heading up Wide Open Space near Alice Springs in late April for the third time, featuring a live band of horns, guitar and violin. "It's a great party and festival, and an awesome opportunity to go into the red centre.
"I'll be on electronics and controllers and synths, my guitarist and I have been playing music together non-stop for 30 years, and I have Mal Webb playing trombone and slide trumpet, and Kylie Morrigan on violin, so the line-up for the event is great."
After traversing the world playing in over 15 countries, Spoonbill has had his fair share of festival experiences, none perhaps as intense as Glade Festival in the UK in 2007.
"We had 6 months worth of rain in 48 hours. Stages were underwater and people were wading into the bars, but the punters were still stoked to be there, they didn't care. The party went on, even though cars were floating away and helicopters were dropping in wellingtons. It was mental."
Far from the lakes of British festivals and before music became a viable career path, Spoonbill worked as an industrial designer. The physical creative skills he honed are now utilised for set designs in his clips.
"I was composing purely for my own enjoyment and my friends from The Cat Empire encouraged me to put out an album, and it snowballed from there.
"In my clip for 'Dirtyca', I did the set design, and my wife, who is a costume designer, made all the costumes and she is the poor rat that's getting smashed.
"The concept behind it is anti-glam. This woman goes through a human carwash, and then a defect is found, and she's sent back through. The process is reversed and she gets dirtied up. It's uncanny and bonkers."
Wide Open Space Festival takes place at Ross River Resort (Central Australia) 28-30 April. Spoonbill will be joined by JessB, TEK TEK Ensemble and much more.
