Brisbane-born singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Sycco can clearly remember the moment she created the term “zorb” to describe a deep connection between people. “We had on-and-off lockdowns [during COVID] and we could have a certain amount of people over. Me and my friends would work during the week and then party,” explains the artist born Sasha McLeod. “We weren’t super close before COVID hit, so it felt really special that we felt so attached. I was on acid, and I coined the term ‘zorb’. It always just stuck with me. Friends are really important to me.” Not surprisingly, relationships are at the thematic heart of Zorb, the First Nations performer’s debut album. “It’s really about community,” she explains. “That’s where my head goes when I listen to it. There’s lots of songs about heartbreak in a relationship, but more broadly it feels like [it’s about] people instead of one person.” Zorb is a freewheeling, genre-less outing that takes in elements of jungle and drum ’n’ bass (“Ripple”), psych rock (“Bad World”), synth-gospel (“I’m Here Now”) and plaintive acoustic songwriting (“Crossed My Mind”), yet still feels like a singular, coherent piece of work. Co-produced by McLeod and Chrome Sparks (aka Jeremy Malvin), here Sycco talks Apple Music through Zorb, track by track. “Buttered Up” “It has a really magical synth beginning, and it feels really wizard to have that at the start of an album called Zorb. Also, the first line I say just feels like, curtain drop, and it feels really bold. It’s about, you’re kind of at the end of a relationship, in a bit of a vicious cycle, and you’re butting heads, and they want you when you don’t want them. It’s complicated.” “I’d Love to Tell You” “I had this session booked with [producer] Styalz Fuego, but I think he doubled up and was meant to go in with Grace [Shaw, aka Mallrat, who co-wrote the song] that day. And Grace was like, ‘Do you want to just do a session together?’ Grace and I really mesh well in the studio. It’s all about having a crush on someone and wanting to tell them, but also kind of enjoying just having a crush on them.” “Meant to Be” “This song is probably my favourite on the album because it makes me feel euphoric and also nostalgic at the same time. The song is all about being at a festival and losing yourself. It’s not necessarily about taking drugs, but it does feel like that. It’s probably just about escapism, but also trying to find the positive in things.” “Swarm” “‘Swarm’ is all about anxiety. It’s trying to point out how silly anxiety can be, and also recounting personal situations. It’s just a nice summery vibe.” “Bad World” “This was probably the first song I wrote that I knew was going to be on the album. When I wrote that guitar riff, it felt so good. Tame Impala is one of my hugest influences and I had to flex my psych-rock muscle on the album.” “I’m Here Now” (with redveil) “I wrote that with my housemates who don’t do music. We were just making these silly songs and we made ‘I’m Here Now’, and it felt really sentimental and sad. I showed Jeremy and said, ‘There’s something really special about this. I can’t work it out, but it has a really nice energy.’ And he started playing these really nice Tyler, The Creator chords vibes, and we just redid the song and it felt really cool. redveil heard it and really liked it. And I was like, ‘Do you want to jump on it?’ And he did, which was lovely.” “Monkey Madness” “It’s definitely a silly song. It’s just about partying. At its core, it’s mainly about escapism and people trying to tell you that you need to find yourself and you’re like, ‘Nah, I’ve got it.’ But you don’t.” “Touching and Talking” “I felt like I hadn’t experienced love at first sight, because I get really crushy on people easily, so it always feels insane when I do get a crush. And on this person, I didn’t know what to feel. It was my first queer relationship, and it felt like an explosion of emotions that I’d never experienced before.” “Ripple” (with Flume and Chrome Sparks) “Sarah [Aarons, co-writer] invited me into the studio. It was my first LA trip and I ended up doing three sessions with her. I think Harley [Streten, aka Flume] and her had been working together a lot. ‘Ripple’ is all about anxiety too, and trying to find the optimism in it, or calming yourself. Sarah is genuinely one of my favourite songwriters ever, and such an inspiration and idol to me, so to meet her and feel like she’s my friend was so lovely.” “Crossed My Mind” “I never thought I would ever release a song that was just me and a guitar. But I had a session with [co-writers] Banoffee and Nate Campany and they were like, ‘No, Sash, you need to have one. Let’s just give it a go.’ They knew that [the album] needed that song. I really like it now. The reason I didn’t like it is because it makes me feel guilty, because the words are super harsh. It sounds like a beautiful love song, but it’s very not that!” “What a Wonderful Surprise” “It’s about really fast, intense love that comes out of nowhere. It feels like I needed a dream poppy moment.” “The End” “Definitely my rock dog moment of the album and I cannot wait to have pyro and fireworks live! The sentiment of it is the end of a relationship, which feels pretty intense and it hurts, so that’s what the rocking guitars are for!” “Zeitgeist” “It’s like four songs in one, which was always a bit tricky, but I was adamant that it work. It has all of these Easter eggs from songs on the album and also unreleased songs, so it felt like the end of this but also the new to come. It sounds really lush and beautiful but the lyrics are quite morbid. The end of it also feels eerily positive. It all just feels a bit culty, that song. It’s a positive but unsettling feeling to me.”