On Endless Room, his third solo album since 2009, Pascal Babare takes his folk-pop-mishmash up an extra notch. Across the album’s ten tracks, Pascal bounces between different moods and feels with ease - from the vibrant and colourful indie-pop of ‘Native Birds’, to delicately sparse folk on 'Dream Shame' or the lush and intricate ‘Ugly Town’ - all melded together by his sandy vocals and poignant lyrics.

Closing out the album is ‘Trouble Thoughts’, one of the album’s most tender moments, that finds Pascal stripping things back and laying his worrying mind out for all to see. Driven by a steady acoustic guitar strum, the track centres around Pascal’s unease and anxieties, ultimately leading towards the inevitableness of death. It’s a heavy topic, but as Pascal tackles it with his calming voice and a melody that weaves around his guitar chords, the track strangely feels both careful and carefree. In fact, not unlike death itself, ‘Trouble Thoughts’ feels like it came about after a lot of thought and reflection, but is performed as though Pascal has no control over the end result. Rounded out with a string section that stabs in and out before settling into lush swells, it’s a beautiful track and a powerfully pleasant reminder of our fate.

To accompany the song is the brand new clip created by local filmmaker Alex Badham, which finds Pascal aboard a boat at sea, as an incredibly unhelpful member of the crew. Despite the video not necessarily relating to the track’s meaning, the immaculately shot clip does well to add a layer of humour to the song’s heavy themes. However, with a crew that ignore Pascal and get on with their job, and a closing shot that reminds us of the world’s willingness to continue moving forwards, there is a sense that despite the impertinent nature of us, it’s not something that we should necessarily stop to worry about.

To celebrate the release of the new clip, we caught up with Pascal to find out all about 'Trouble Thoughts', the new album and his previous boating experience.

TJ: Hey Pascal, the last time we heard from you was when you dropped ‘Ugly Town’, and since then you’ve released your new album Endless Room. How’s everything been going?

PB: Great - it’s a nice feeling for it to be out, as it’s been a long time since I finished it. It feels like my 30 year old son or daughter has finally moved out and gotten a job. Good riddance on the one hand, but on the other, I’m proud of them.

Your latest single 'Trouble Thoughts' closes Endless Room, and is potentially the most tender track on the album - what’s the story behind that one?

I bought a guitar from a friend in Japan when I was traveling there in 2016 — it had been owned by their grandfather, who’d recently passed away. Later, on the same trip, we met a beautiful man who owned a cafe in the mountains, who — after frequenting his cafe for several days and experiencing his kindness and hospitality — told us he only had a few months to live (due to cancer). So I found myself on this beautiful holiday constantly thinking about death, and the inevitability of it. So I thought I’d try and write a song about it on my friend’s grandfather’s guitar, and explore how this fear is what lies at the heart of all my other lesser fears and anxieties. Needless to say, I was a real joy for my partner to be travelling with at the time.

The new clip is really well done too - how’d that come together? Have you had much boating experience before?

To be honest I get terrible seasickness, and am afraid of the ocean, so no — no boating experience to speak of. For the clip, I sat down with my friend and very talented filmmaker Alex Badham to discuss possible video ideas. A family friend of mine owned a beautiful little sailboat, so Alex and I started with that as our main location and built the rest of the ideas around it. Originally we wanted to simulate a fire on board, but we ended up filming very close to the Swan Island ASIS training area, where secret agents are trained in explosives and high tech weaponry by SAS specialists, so we decided against it. In hindsight, getting neutralised by a drone strike in Port Phillip Bay would’ve done great things for my album sales, but I’ve made my bed so now I’ve gotta lie in it.

Endless Room is your third solo album, and your first new music since 2013. What’s been happening over the last few years?

I’ve been working on a few other projects, playing in lots of great bands, producing and co-writing, composing for film and TV, and just trying to make a living out of music more generally (which has meant less time for my solo music, unfortunately). I’ve never stopped writing my own songs, but I move pretty slowly when it comes to recording and producing.

How’s the rest of 2018 shaping up for you?

Well I’m super excited about playing with my new live band, made up of some of my dearest and most talented friends, including Lucy Roleff on flute, Alex Badham on guitar, Leyla Varela on keys, Peter Head on cello, and Pete Nicholson on bass. Other than that I’m really looking forward to the new Red Dead Redemption.