Reaping The Harvest: An Interview With What So Not

It seems to be perpetually bad weather whenever What So Not (aka Chris Emerson) and I cross paths, be it in Newcastle, where he spent a large part of 2021, or today in an offbeat Sydney cafe, where we meet sheltered from the autumn drizzle outside. The prolific electronic producer and avid surfer always has a relaxed air about him, and today is no exception, as he shares on his latest album, ‘Anomaly’.

Rainy Sydney feels a world away from where the roots of ‘Anomaly’ sprouted. “I was actually driving around Europe, listening to music that I hadn’t made the time to listen to. I was listening to The Prodigy, Underworld, some old Chemical Brothers stuff. I was getting shown a lot of stuff by locals as I was travelling through towns, and by friends,” says Emerson.

As with his previous releases, community and collaboration were key. Emerson took time to dive into the communities and cultures he was travelling through, drawing influence from those around him. “I have always only worked with my friends, or maybe found someone I really liked, and then worked with them and ended up becoming friends anyway,” he laughs. There’s a host of these collaborators/friends on ‘Anomaly’, from fellow Australians like Phi11a, DMA’s and Lucy Lucy, to international stars like Oliver Tree, Killer Mike and Louis The Child.

One of the more intriguing features on the record is a rework of a previous collaboration with Danish singer MØ. “That was potentially going to be on my last album,” explains Emerson. “But to some degree, I ran away from it because I thought it was too big of a song. Sometimes you are at points in your career where you don’t want to jump into a space because you don’t know if you’ve done the legwork to have earned it the right way.”

Considering he has been in the game for more than ten years, I point out that he has surely done the legwork now. “I wasn’t confident enough in my production to do it, how I really heard it in my head,” he says. “It also would have been a very big pop-leaning song for the last album, but now I’m very confident in it and was happy to put it on this.”

It’s clear that Emerson is often thinking about what’s next, and will figure out what needs to be done to execute his vision, even if it takes a few years. “I’m usually operating about three years ahead of what people are hearing,” he says. He’s currently remastering both ‘Anomaly’, and his debut album ‘Not All Beautiful Things’ in Dolby Atmos surround sound technology for the first time, which has given him an opportunity to reflect. “I’m hearing them and listening to them as a subjective listener again.

“Separating from the trauma of finishing songs, which is such a task at times, and the choices you have to make are so brutal. I listened to it as a project, and I was like, Wow, ‘Not All The Beautiful Things’ was a powerful record.” He notes that the two albums, thematically, are a world apart. “It was a very sad album because that’s where I was at. With ‘Anomaly’,  I’m just so filled with life, and excited and confident.”

The confidence stemmed from a range of experiences, including Emerson’s first attempt at big wave surfing. “That changed the way my brain worked and thought about things and took on challenges,” he says. “I was just thinking, what does that sound like? The title track is the song that I use to score that experience, I put it up on a little YouTube video.”

The video was released in 2019, a further example of how far in advance Emerson operates. The core of ‘Anomaly’ is evident, as shots of huge waves off the southern tip of Tasmania are interspersed with live show footage. Watching the clip now, the optimism and awe found on ‘Anomaly’ makes sense. Emerson sums it up pretty well: “For me, it’s that energy of life again.”

Despite the record being mostly completed pre-lockdown, it does feel like a perfect foil to the turmoil of the last few years. I ask Emerson whether that time had an impact on the record. “It’s a very strange time in music. A lot of people are doing their best work they’ve done since they can remember, because we all got to, to some degree, be children again. We got to sit in our houses with all the time in the world,” he replies.

He took the opportunity to focus on his craft, and finished ‘Anomaly’ in ShockOne’s studio over in Perth.  “I’d be there endlessly, just refining and tweaking sounds in a perfectly built room,” he says. Like many artists, he feels that returning to live shows and releasing music is different from before. “People are going to have to do quite spectacular things to cut through. The rule book is burned,” he muses.

Emerson has never been one to follow the rule book anyway. His current project is a 3D animated film, which has been in the works for around three years. “I was hoping it would be ready for ‘Anomaly’, because this album is the score to the film. I’m very excited to bring that into a show form in a new way,” he says. Of course, as most trailblazers find, it’s not a straightforward process.

Although he’s finding that the infrastructure is not quite keeping up with the technology, Emerson says he’s excited to be at the forefront. “There’s trial and error and it comes with compromise. There are a few things I would have liked to have turned out differently even to this point. But it’s for a greater purpose – it’s not worth it to be worried about anything right now.”