Angus Stone, 'Golden Wolf', and “The most adventurous, stylistically, vocally, and lyrically Dope Lemon has ever gone.”

(Photo Credit: Daniel Mayne)

We at Alt Revue reached out to Dope Lemon before the release of Golden Wolf to see if Angus Stone would share his thoughts on the album and his creative process. He responded, and we couldn’t have been happier.

To Angus Stone, From Jesse, a contributing writer

I am going through a highly transformative period, which is interesting because I cannot tell you when I haven’t been in one. My life is a series of journeys, and the destinations are moments to reflect, pause, and self-check before moving on. Time constantly moves us, shifts our positions, and helps to redirect our perception; the motion is evolution. To keep pace, we must accept each moment and then let it go. You can hear the story in some of Robert Hunter’s greatest lyrics.

“All I know is something like a bird within her sang/All I know she sang a little while and then flew on,” from “Bird Song,” possibly my all-time favorite Grateful Dead song. “Don’t you cry anymore.”

Or, the “Scarlet Begonias” lyrics, “I had to learn the hard way to let her pass by, let her pass by.”

One more. “It’s the same story the crow told me/It’s the only one he know/Like the morning sun you come/And like the wind you go.” “Uncle John’s Band.”

There is something to this cathartic era; it is pulling together my past, present, and future and connecting me to a greater community. I hear something similar in your music, lyrics, and words.

Although I could go on to intertwine Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha and his final lesson, discuss beautiful coincidences, and further address static vs dynamic living, I will share the questions and responses that helped transport my thoughts here.

Alt Revue: How does Golden Wolf fit into the Dope Lemon discography? Where does it sit in Angus Stone’s legacy?

Dope Lemon: Golden Wolf, conceptually, is about going to the other side, what it is that’ll take you there at the end of all of this, and moving into the next life, how you’ll live it. It’s cool, because it’s like I’m moving into the next phase, and I think every next phase is sort of like moving into a new life, and every record that happens for me. I really love that side of what this is creatively.

Alt Revue: What songs on Golden Wolf best represent the album’s essence?

Dope Lemon: Probably Sugarcat in the way it’s the most adventurous, stylistically, vocally, and lyrically Dope Lemon has ever gone, and if I was to put a window up in the house of Golden Wolf as a record it would be this song.

Alt Revue: Can you tell us about “Maggie’s Moonshine” and “Dust of a Thousand Stars” crossing the seven-minute barrier?

Dope Lemon: Time, when it comes to this creative bubble of piecing together all the bits of the puzzle to make a song, it only really shows itself at the end. I think sometimes the song will tell you what journey it wants to go on, and at that point you’re just merely a passenger and you let it take you for that ride, whether its X amount of minutes to infinity, I think the main priority is to follow it down the yellow brick road or wherever it wants to go. 

Alt Revue: How would you like listeners to connect with Golden Wolf?

Dope Lemon: For me, the music is based on renewal and adventure, falling in love, things like that. When I get stopped in the street and someone comes up to me that’s had an experience of the music in their life, it always brings me back to a big part of why I do what I do, and if it’s affected someone in a way, I’ve done my job, and we’re almost living in parallel universes, even though we’re complete strangers.

Alt Revue: What was your creative process like for Golden Wolf? Did it differ from your previous albums?

Dope Lemon: I think the primary colours are always there in the basis of how you start, before you walk into the studio. I think it’s just all your skillsets that you’re refining as you move along in this life, and as a human being, going through your own personal struggles. It’s always going to be this evolved side of your psyche, heart and soul, and I picture it as this window into a big beautiful house with all the paintings on the wall which your new chapters are being hung on, which in my life are what I share as albums.

Alt Revue: What do you enjoy most about creating a Dope Lemon album? What are some of the challenges?

Dope Lemon: I get asked the question a lot, whether I feel the pressures of influence, either being culturally where music is at, or whether I feel I need to change, and basically adjust to that climate. But in all honesty, I have always put my head down and just done exactly what I’ve always set out to do, which is share something real from my personal experience, my observations of the world, and if people connect with that side of myself and the music, I’m a happy boy. … And if they don’t enjoy it, fuck em.

Alt Revue: Do you have a specific environment or setting where you feel most creative when writing and recording?

Dope Lemon: I really enjoy talking to old people, going to old bookstores or goodwill shops, and listening to the oldies tell their tales of what they’ve been through and how they see society evolving (or not evolving) on their side of things - I learn a lot from that crew. One day I was in an old furniture store, and this lady, we started talking, and she mentioned how I had quite a unique taste, and she mentioned a house that was recently put up for sale, where the family had inherited it, and there were a bunch of kids that needed to move the house along because the grandparents had passed away. She mentioned it was like a time capsule of a mansion set in the 70s, and nothing had changed internally, so I drove and checked it out. The gate was chained up and I jumped the fence and snuck in and peered through the window. I fell in love with it and put an offer on it, and acquired this beautiful property which is now the studio where I make my records called Sugarcane Mountain Studios. It’s beautiful, it looks over the mountain range, the sugarcane fields, and the sunsets are sublime, and every different room has a story to tell, and that’s the environment currently that I like to create in. 

Alt Revue: What’s next for you?   

Dope Lemon: Next is just doing what I’ve always done - jotting down the little moments I have in my life, and making music with friends and sharing music on the road, sharing stories and living life (and drinking beer). Enjoying the little things whilst we have them available. And then rolling along to the next thing, whatever that is!