Dunedin artist and musician Robbie Motion has stepped out from behind a series of band monikers in recent weeks, releasing his debut outing under his own name.
''I've been working on it all of this year, but I've been sitting on it for ages,'' Motion said, over a coffee. ''When I started I knew I didn't want to rush it and feel no pressure towards it.
''I'm kind of over dealing with bands, I'm always changing what I'm wanting to do musically, but I put it under my own name because I can't really back out of that.''
On the scene for a few years now, Motion has played in a variety of different guises, more recently drumming in the noisy and repetitious trio Not From Space and leading the tongue-in-cheek faux Brit-pop of the Canals.
''[For this project] I started off with some recordings looking at FKA Twigs, still with guitar stuff but something a bit more abstract in its structure, but I just ended up going back to the folk pop stuff.
''I didn't really know what I wanted. With my previous projects, there was always a clear goal: `I want it to sound like this'. This time I just wanted it to sound like music I'd made.
''Something that was a bit more of an accurate reflection of me.''
The EP, called Carpet House, was also a healing effort for Motion, focusing on the pleasures of home.
''It's about being out, and being like 'Oh I'd rather be at home'.''
''It was a therapeutic thing for me, trying to decide whether it was okay for me to stay home.''
The Modest Mouse-ish bends of opening number Icarus start the journey, but the protagonist is soon enough in his head thinking about why he left.
By the third track, the atmospheric and meditative piano accordion-led Gone Home and its follow up Sounds of Home (The Night), Motion is saying hello to alone again.
''Eventually you stay at home for so long you start to go crazy.
''One time, everybody else went out, and I just sat in the flat with the lights out and had no idea what I was doing.''
Carpet House also features stunning cover art by Motion, a skill he's locally knowned for, designing often energetic and colourful sleeves and posters for numerous local bands.
The artwork is a series of line-drawn human faces, rough, blurry and surrounded by shadows.
The work is something more classically art history-influenced than some of his more vibrant pieces.
''That style started as doodling and taking inspiration from fashion artists like Richard Haines, and early French street artists,'' Motion said.
''The idea that made me really get into them was eye contact. Like, I'm really bad at eye contact, and it was the idea of when you see people and you're shy, you know what they look like, but you're not quite looking at them. It's drawing for people who are bad at eye contact.''
The album
• Robbie Motion's debut EP Carpet House is available as a name-your-price download from robbiemocean.bandcamp.com
Follow his art at www.facebook.com/Rmotionart
