Sean Steinfeger w/ Allysha Joy
Can you remember the very first moment you consciously listened to music?
Wow. Maybe when I was around 12 and my dad gave me some of his favourite records and I really REALLY listened to Ella Fitzgerald, Mingus and Monk and wanted to learn every part of the music.
What came first – singing or playing the piano and what was the inspiration behind both?
Singing was a huge part of my upbringing, I sang with my family and at church and I loved this way of being with other people. I only started playing keys fairly recently, I’ve been teaching myself and was very motivated by the lack of female / non binary representation around me and wanting to change that, wanting to inspire others and to have more control in the music.
Tell us a bit about the times when you decided to make music with other people and who pushed you within the early days?
I’ve always been singing and listening and writing poetry but I didn’t get serious about making music until I met 30/70. I connected with Ziggy Zeitgeist, Horatio Luna and Thomas and we would spend hours together learning and playing. Those three musicians taught me everything .. and now I’m learning from friends and collaborators like Yelderbert (totek), Hyphira and fellow 30/70 crew Finn Rees, Annalisa and Matt Hayes.
Do you think that music from so called “Australia“ already has a certain trademark sound or vibe and if so how would you describe it?
Yeah I think there’s a sound and energy that is present in a lot of music coming from out there, especially within the soul/jazz scene. I think so many of us have learnt from our community how to produce, how to engineer .. we’ve not had much access to big studios or gear so there’s this DIY, raw sound, coupled with the spaciousness, beauty, complexity and dark history of that sacred Indigenous land.
Where does your spirituality and deep connection to Mother Earth come from?
Well I mean I don’t know how deep my connection is to Mother Earth right now I feel like I’m spending a lot of time in a plane in the sky touring at the moment haha but I grew up in Narrm outside of the city, my life as a kid was all about being outdoors, caring for animals, caring for nature in the little ways that I knew how and growing up in a pretty forward thinking church community with very strong spiritual women and a father that’s very passionate about environment and adventuring. Like yeah I definitely was raised in this way and now have found my own path of spirituality.
If you could travel through time to witness a particular decade, what would it be, where and why?
That’s pretty hard to pick one time. I think the music I am most inspired by is really early 2000s, but I wasn’t old enough to be able to access it then — like the soul, hip hop, broken beat of that time would’ve been amazing to experience in London and the States. And then like 40s/50s/60s jazz —— but it’s too hard to pick one decade when it comes to jazz, like I want Ahmad Jamal, Thelonious, Cool era Miles and the Coltranes, you know .. I want it all.
What’s your most favorite music documentary?
I’m making my way through this ‘Soul!’ series right now actually, it was like the jazzy partner to Soultrain and i found a plug to access that to show. It’s amazing, poetry, live performance, conversation with people like McCoy Tyner, Sidney Poitier, Mae Jackson, Gladys Knight to even conversation with James Baldwin. That’s what’s on my mind right now.
Imagine if you could only listen to 3 albums for the rest of your life, what would they be?
I actually really do listen to the same things on repeat a lot! So I’m just gunna pick three albums that are on heavy rotation at the minute that serve a different purpose cause this is too hard.
Matthew Hayes – Indigo Blue (for calm)
Lisa Fischer – So intense (for funk + soul)
Don Cherry – Here & Now (for spirit + rage)
Which living artists inspire you the most?
Damn. Maybe Meshell Ndegeocello.
Tell us a bit about the moment you’ve heard that Gilles Peterson wants to do a compilation about the vibrant music scene of Naarm (Melbourne). Was this some kind of a turning point for the whole scene?
I guess it all happened very quickly and slowly simultaneously, which allows you time to come to terms with the opportunity. For me that moment was really about trying to express something really true about my female experience in my track ‘Orbit’ and include other women that I love on the record. It was a moment for sure and it continues to come back in circles.
In 2022 you’ve got the chance to curate a broken beat compilation of artists from down under called „They‘re Energised“. How was this work for you and what other kind of compilation would you like to curate if you’d have the chance to?
This came about through working with IG Culture and Alex Phountzi, doing their radio show and just connecting through the music. It was a pleasure to put together the compilation and feature some artists from so called Australia on this sound. I’m really grateful for that opportunity. I’d love to put some stuff together now with all the crew that’s connecting through Dreamcastmoe, 30/70, Makez, Douniah, Close Counters. It’s a bit of a global team of freaks all working together in different ways.
What is your favorite part of the creating process?
The moment a seed starts to take root is always exciting. Just the very beginnings of creative ideas, all that hope and energy and exploration.
I’ve read that art has always been a form of therapy for you. Can you describe it a lil bit more?
Art and music and poetry is for me therapy. That’s it. It’s my way of processing the world, when things feel too much or too little, when I feel grief or joy or sadness or light or dark I express then and uncover this through music. I come to understand myself through metaphor, through the subconscious, through the act of being an artist (especially an improviser) and the ways that it requires you to be open, flexible, evolving. It’s everything to me.
What makes your approach to composing new music as a solo artist different from working with others like for example with the 30/70 Collective?
In the process of the composition for 30/70 or AlJoy there’s not much difference, I write for both projects, sometimes have drums and bass and keys parts in mind or maybe it’s improvised in the studio all of us together or collaborative. Where the music ends up falling between the two projects is the difference, my solo project tends to be a place for the more raw, personal, stripped back and centred music in classic soul/jazz feels and 30/70 really explores so many other styles, more broken, far more challenging arrangements, more dance and electronic. I think they’ve really become different sounds.
The recordings of your upcoming third solo album are already finished. Can you already share some details of it (production, sound, label, features…)?
Yeah, the next record is some of the best songwriting I think I’ve ever done, like really to the heart. It’s my own production but this time super lush, poetic, strings and bells and open arrangements. Featuring all my favourites from Narrm and London.
Are there any other upcoming projects you‘re involved in for this year?
Yeah there’s some more 30/70 work on the way and a few collaborative bits to come!
I know you prefer to listen to vinyl, but when you’re on the road, what do you like to listen to digitally – albums, curated playlists or self-created playlists?
I really like listening to digital radio. Spots like The Lot, NTS, Balamii, sometimes BBC you know, there’s so much good radio out there. Can listen to someone playing vinyl even on the road.
Which current albums are on your heavy rotation lately?
I love Douniahs new album ‘a lot not too much’ and so many friends up and coming records actually just listening to mixes and bounces and new writing, listening to MARO for the heart break, olive jones new singles, alabaster de plume instrumental album, Joseph Shabason.
Can you give us an insight into what the Berlin audience can expect from your upcoming concert at Gretchen on February 28th?
I am so excited to play!!! I feel really in tune with my purpose, the music, my crew and family. It’s gunna be Ziggy Zeitgeist on drums and Matt Gedrych on bass. A dream team trio! And i have so much new music, pointing at boogie, soul, Marvin Gaye and D’angelo .. I’m just hyped on music right now and feel like that’s the best time to go receive an artists music. I feel restored and energised 🙏🌹