In Conversation With Matt Corby On His New Album, Touring With Teddy Swims & Writers’ Block
keepin' it creative
By Victoria Lewis | 22nd May 2026He’s a mainstay of the Aussie music scene – Matt Corby is an artist who’s been on our playlists since the early 2010s, and is now continuing his success at the top of the charts with his recent album release (not to mention a Triple J Like A Version that dropped just hours ago).
With his fourth album, Tragic Magic – created in his studio in the NSW hinterlands – he packs deep subject matter like loss, hardship, and fatherhood into whimsical melodies, combining expert lyricism with his signature sound in a dream-like fantasy for the ears.
From songwriting to music production, Matt truly does it all, so when given the chance to pick his creative brain, we simply couldn’t pass it up. We chat to Matt about his recent release, touring with Teddy Swims last year, his creative process, and learning new things – read the interview below. Warning: he is just as captivating in conversation as he is in his lyrics.
Hi Matt! Congratulations on the new album. You explore some pretty personal topics in your album – loss, friendship, and fatherhood. Why do you feel compelled to get so personal in your songs?
I mean, what’s the alternative? All we have is what we’ve experienced and how we process those experiences, so I guess that’s, that’s why, really. I just try to make sense of what’s happening around me, how I’m fitting into it all, and how I feel about it at all, and I guess that just comes out in the songwriting.
Is there also an element of you wanting to connect with others within the lyrics?
I guess that’s like the whole thing with music. People kind of take on their own meaning of stuff once you give things over to people to listen to – your intention for what it was meant to be or what it was meant to mean is irrelevant. People sort of superimpose their own emotions over it based on their experience, so I love that part of it as well. I’ve had lots of people be like, “Oh, is this song about this?” And I’ll be like, “No, but that’s way more clever.” Yeah, it’s quite funny.
You made this album solely in your studio, Rainbow Valley, in the northern NSW hinterland. What is it about being surrounded by nature that helps you creatively?
It’s nice to feel like you’re nestled in a little pocket. Like we’re in this, we’re in this little valley, and there’s running water in the background and birds chirping everywhere, and that’s always been where I feel comfortable. I feel like your guard is down a little more when you’re in creative mode, [so] when you feel like you’re kind of in the middle of nowhere, and you’re sort of free of any outside energy that might be imposing – I love it out here. I mean, when we found this property ten years ago, I knew straight away. I was just like, “This is, this is where I’m gonna set it all up.”
When other artists come here and step into the studio and just see what’s around the property, I think you can tell it’s like this lowering of their guard, and their energy sort of becomes neutral in a good way, and people kind of get straight into the zone, so yeah, that’s cool. I’m so glad I have this space that I can cruise in here whenever I feel the need to, to make something. Nine times out of ten, it’s really bad, but every now and then, you get one that’s like, “Oh, cool. I’m glad we captured that today.”
Side note, he then turns the camera around to give us a glimpse of the setup, and we can confirm, it’s pretty major.
So you toured with Teddy Swims last year. What was the most profound thing you learned from him during that time?
I think he and I are really opposite in our approach to a lot of things, and I mean that in all respects. He’s such a crazy, energetic human being, and he is just going after it, and I have a lot of respect for that.
I’m quite reserved and, probably in my career, have said no to way too many things that I probably should have said yes to. His whole philosophy is just like, “No, you just say yes, and you just do it, and you cop it, that’s your job, and you make the most of it.” I really took that on a lot, especially approaching this album and even just being a little more forthright in my explanation of why I’m doing what I’m doing. He’s just a beautiful human, and we got along like a house on fire.
He told me when I first met him that he’d been listening to my music since he was in high school, which I was like, “How old are you?”
Any pre-show rituals?
I’m pretty boring, hey. I don’t eat three hours before a show, and then I start my warm-ups an hour before a gig. Then I’ll always steam my vocal cords, and right before we go on stage I I just get in a little huddle with the band and be like, “Hey, we’re here really just to enjoy this time together,” and I tell all my band mates that I love them, and then we go and try and survive the gig.
This is your fourth album. Do you have any tips to help with creative fatigue or writer’s block?
I actually feel very little pressure to write songs, and maybe that’s the key. I think if I ever feel like I’m stagnating creatively, I’ll just go and learn something. Like, I’ll buy a new instrument or something and just be like, “How do I play this thing?” and it normally sparks ideas. Learning the production engineering side of music-making has been really great ’cause it’s just endless the stuff that you can learn.
I also think that changing your environment is a great thing. I remember having a big chat with David Le’aupepe from Gang Of Youths, and he’s like, “What, what do you do to like stay fresh?” And I’m like.. maybee go and rent a cabin in the woods for like two weeks and ee what happens. Just get your joy back just [making] sounds, and start to try to create emotion with music.
What’s one thing you learned in creating this album?
I think more so, I was trying to unlearn the way that I judge the process. I really learned to like pushing through those moments of really doubting what I’m making, and… I just learned to sort of trust the process a little more…pushing outside what my ears were used to hearing, or what patterns I was used to in my approach to writing music.
As far as musically speaking, I think I’m learning a lot as a producer and an engineer all the time, and how to put things together and how to be a little less rules-based and more just feel-based.
You said you were becoming more forthright as an artist. Who do you want to be as an artist?
You know what? I have no idea. And I like that I don’t know. I surprise myself all the time with what I know and don’t know, and what I like and don’t like, and that’s always changing. That’s a really fun place to be.
I think that’s what also kind of keeps me a little bit fresh in the mind. I don’t really have a plan. I, I’m just trying to, I’m just trying to find things that make me feel something. And if I can keep doing that, then that’s really as far ahead as what I need to think.
Imagery: @mattcorby / @maclayheriot
