Jay Watson has long been one of the most quietly influential figures in Australia’s modern psych-pop scene. Known for working with the likes of Tame Impala and POND, the Fremantle-based artist has helped shape some of the country’s biggest albums – while simultaneously carving out a distinct identity of his own.
Watson has been releasing records under his GUM moniker for over a decade, letting the recordings follow his wildest creative impulses. Now, he’s equipped with his seventh studio album, Blue Gum Way, with nine tracks each exploring specific moods and sounds.
Rooted in expansive, jazz-tinged psychedelia, Blue Gum Way was inspired by sounds from Talk Talk and the beauty of Radiohead‘s A Moon Shaped Pool, showcasing an artist who has reached his clearest sense of purpose.
The album, released on Friday (March 6th) via King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s p(doom) records, was self-produced, and is noted to stand as his boldest, most refined work to date. The title serves as an ode to melancholy, place, and atmosphere, referencing Australia’s blue gum eucalyptus trees.
It follows 2023’s Saturnia and 2024’s Ill Times, which was a collaborative collection with King Gizzard’s Ambrose Kenny-Smith.
Here, Watson breaks down the meaning behind each song.
GUM’s Blue Gum Way is out now.
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“Man Alive”
“Man Alive” is about the fear of the phone call, the message that something has gone terribly wrong. And how that fear often comes when we are most content and almost guilty about the happiness in our own lives.
“Phosphene Scream”
Phosphenes are those patterns you see when you press your eyelids in the sun. I tried to make a song that sounds like that. It also feels like driving through dappled light to me, down Blue Gum Way.
“Expanding Blue”
“Expanding Blue” starts out as a jazz inspired meditation, and turns into something spiritual for me, like a lost gospel soul record or something.
“In Life”
This song is about a fork in the road, a sliding doors moment where your life could have been completely different based on one decision.
“Man Ray Bay”
“Man Ray Bay” is a ghostly dystopian coastal place where the coral is white and black and whales breach in the distance. I tried to make it sound underwater.
“Celluloid”
Everything feels worse in the middle of the night, it’s where peak worry and catastrophising happens. Exacerbated by a slow death from blue screen light and brainrot.
“It Happens Almost Every Day”
This is a soundtrack to an imaginary film, and a look at my own anxiety.
“Outrider”
I think my biggest inspiration in life is getting inspired by the world and music and putting it into music. It’s a lifelong pursuit that I think I’m stick in ’til the end.
“New Equator”
This song is about a seismic shift in life, or perspective, and how you adapt to that. The album was almost called New Equator.
