I started writing Begin To Look Around at the beginning of 2019. Well, that’s when the turning point was anyhow. That’s when the better, stronger songs were born. I knew in my gut that my debut album was in the works after we wrote Bigger Than Me, but it was almost as if, as soon as the album was finally arriving, piece by piece and session by session…my personal life took an unexpectedly emotion-charged turn. Coincidentally, I needed music to lean on, learn from and to heal with, more than I ever have before.

17th of March, 2019

I feel defeated walking into Fall Back Studios. It’s my third session with Dylan Nash this week, and it’s a Sunday. Yesterday I had leapt out of bed with enthusiasm, allocating time to dress nicely, prepare for a day of recording vocals and arrive with plenty of time. Thus far, today is the complete opposite. I am exhausted with no makeup on and my hair in a mess. Making my way up the stairs, I find Dylan already set up, ready to work on something new. Dylan has such a bright, revitalising energy, and though he is one of the more intensely-focused producers that I’ve worked with, he is never broody, disconnected or one to get lost in his own producer-land. He’s always right there with you.

I slump down on the couch to open my notebook. Naturally, my repulsive mood has crash-landed into our creative space; this is blatantly obvious before I even open my mouth. Anyone who knows me well, knows I can struggle to conceal my emotions. I don’t “fake it ’til I make” it (which I could probably afford to learn to do). Instead, I wear it loudly and proudly in my facial expressions, tone of voice and most particularly, my choice of words.

“…how are you?” Dylan tentatively asks me.

I respond by burying my head in my notebook and remaining silent for a moment. I’m letting stuff brew. When I finally lift my head from the blank pages, they are saturated with my tears.

It doesn’t take much encouragement for me to begin unpacking with Dylan how I am feeling about the miserable events that played out the night before. I paint pictures of arguing in the street with my partner, being on the receiving end of the silent treatment and falling asleep in a pit of uncertainty. “I feel like I’m playing all of my cards. I just really wish they cared about me as deeply as I care about them”, I tell Dylan as he listens intently. Rain begins to fall gently on the roof above us as he plays me a handful of evocative chords on a keyboard. My frustration spills out onto the page, as I write lines like it’d be so brave of me to walk away, and leave this place we taint, sleep on it, keep you waiting. Our song soon has a beat. It’s an ‘emo banger’, a ‘crying in the club’ song coming into its own before us. My eyes are puffy from crying yet I am so inspired, so relieved to be having a break from the drama of my personal life to only closely analyse it in song. I don’t know what’s going to happen next, but at least I have a new song to cling tightly to amidst these turbulent times.

26th of March, 2019

Just over a week later I’m heading to the other side of the city in an Uber, on my way to The Base studios to finally meet Chris Collins, a producer I’ve been wanting to collaborate with since late 2018. I’m running on an undesirable kind of adrenaline, and have so much anxiety that I don’t know how to navigate or where to place. I’ve already called Chris and told him “I think I might cry through this whole session, sorry in advance!” There is something to be said about the instantaneous trust and understanding between the artist and writer producer in these writing rooms. I’ve only ever met Chris briefly, but I know the immediacy of my honesty and openness will be what builds a great friendship between us, as well as a great professional relationship if there is chemistry. Thankfully, there is. In a crowded cafe across from the studio, over a Melbourne breakfast, I talk to Chris about how I think my partner and I might be on the verge of separating. I’ve slept so little, and have constantly awoken to the reminder of the thing - the dreaded thing. The thing I so desperately want to fix. I talk to Chris about how I had such a vivid idea of what my future looked like just last week, and how it’s all quietly crumbling beneath me. Wintery imagery of cliff tops, stormy seas, never-ending long winding roads and misty rain fills my mind as I talk. Chris and I carry the drama of this conversation back to the dark studio space, and he begins repeatedly hitting these suspenseful, gripping chords on a Rhodes piano. Nothing has ever really hurt like this. Waking in the middle of the night, I begin to feel the weight of it. I quickly write these lines in my notebook as if to catch the idea before it runs away from me, and before I know it, we’re working on a pre chorus. As the session continues, lyrics fall out of the sky and into my lap like I have never experienced. I can hardly verbalise to Chris how miraculous and supernatural writing this song feels. Music is saving me, I think to myself. Music is the net beneath me that is always going to catch me. I feel both broken and strengthened by how resistless the song feels. There is such desperation in the lyric, but as a songwriter, I have found that it is your most raw thoughts and vulnerabilities that lead you to your most empowering, and ultimately relatable work. We all just want to feel less alone in these harrowing feelings. That’s why everyone loves a good breakup song.

8th of April, 2019

Two weeks on, and with a little bit more healing, tears and perspective under my belt, I’m in London at Kobalt studios waiting for Jonny Hockings. We haven’t worked together before, so I decide to pull up something I’ve prepared earlier. A bold, Regina Spektor-esc. piano part that I’ve had in my voice notes for a time. I’ve been saving it for a day where I feel like writing an optimistic anthem, and I think it’s time. We record it on keys and loop it in the session, humming melodies under our breaths, staring aimlessly into space seeking out little sparks of inspiration. Jonny sings a particularly intriguing, soaring chorus melody that I make sure to record, as I simultaneously jot down the sentence London, hold me as I’m coming down from this high. “I like that it’s like you’re talking to the city itself” Jonny acknowledges. In 3 hours with that piano part alone, we write a song called The Cure, using Jonny’s melody to sing out lines like there’s laughter between the darker moments, romance in the loneliness. As I listen back to the vocal I burst into tears, so proud of what we have made and so indefinably thankful for music, and the way it allows me to encapsulate each lesson I learn. I listen back to the song on the train home, mostly obsessed with the lyric maybe I’m okay without your advice. It remains one of my favourite lyrics on my album.

I felt changed after each writing session for this body of work, indeed, these sessions transformed me. The heart and soul of Begin To Look Around is embedded in the beautifully open discussions that I had about my life with my patient, benevolent collaborators. These conversations paved the paths that lead us to the music we made.

No stranger to multi-hyphenates, Montana is an environmental engineer, artist and activist. She’s the founder of natural and sustainable beauty brand, Bluem and Not for Profit, Murals for Change, an art-based activism program raising awareness for worthy causes through art installations, online & community workshops. Earlier this year she signed her first book deal with Murdoch Publishing… just casually! In pre-COVID times, her philanthropic work took her to rural Ghana to explore fair trade and Cambodia where she helped design a sustainable wash house. She also lead the world’s largest animal rights campaign culminating in a career highlight, presenting at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

Tom is a carpenter by trade, though after a serious boating accident just before Blue was conceived and a lengthy recovery time leaving him unable to work, the idea to get on the road and on their way to a more meaningful and sustainable life was born. On the road, Tom’s role is doting partner and father, part time photographer and mechanic, sometime co-star in Montana’s creative collaborations and hunter and gatherer. Most days he can be found in the ocean spear fishing for the family’s meals and teaching Blue the importance of knowing where your food comes from.

En route down the east coast, at the close of the Southern Hemisphere summer, Montana, Tom and Blue stopped in the beautiful Central Coast of New South Wales and Tom’s hometown, for a fun and light-filled sunset shoot with photographer Simon Upton for ELBAZIN.

Here, we discuss their love, connection, conscious parenting, passion and purpose.

CB: How did you meet?
Montana: I’ll never forget the first time I saw Tom. He walked through the door with the biggest smile on his face and literally filled the room with light. I remember thinking, I would do anything for the chance to just be friends with the guy. A slightly rocky road followed but four years later, we were having babies. 
Tom: I walked into a shoot for some friends as the male model booked couldn’t make it, Mon was in a leopard print bikini. I introduced myself to the team and sat on a couch in the studio trying not to look like an absolute fool, with my mouth hanging open ogling at Montana. I remember a fern gave me some good cover [laughs].

CB: How would you describe your approach to parenting?
Montana: We take a lot of inspiration from ‘conscious parenting’ but really, I think our approach is largely based around getting in touch with our inner child ourselves and focusing on teaching Blue by our actions over our words.
Tom: I try to listen to what Blue needs instead of telling her what she needs. I also remember that humans have been on this planet for millennia, so I try to dial it back a lot to separate myself from the consumer parent of this age. Babies don’t need stuff, they need you. As much of yourself you can give them.

CB: What are the qualities you most admire in each other?
Tom: Montana’s absolute knowing and unwavering strength and passion. She has inspired me tremendously throughout my journey and always checks my when I waiver. She is a very deep feeler - the highs and the lows - so she has definitely taught me new levels of my own emotions.
Montana: Tom’s patience, deep understanding, acceptance and his ability to see the light in every situation. How committed he is to being a dad - he rewrites every story I had about men, and I love that for me [laughs].

CB: What qualities do you admire in your daughter Blue?
Montana: I love the way she crawls up my chest in the middle of the night just to give me a kiss and how she’s always down for a boogie. She’s been known to start fist pumping when a good song comes on even when she’s fast asleep. She’s such a social butterfly, people fall in love with her everywhere she goes. I love how she gives me the courage to be the woman I always wanted to be. 
Tom: Her courage! Blue is herself in every moment, something I believe we can all learn from. Her curiosity and playfulness. The times her little face gets all serious as she’s trying to express what she is feeling. Her obsession with shoes. The way she kisses, the fact that some of her favourite words are boat, beer and fish.

CB: You’re currently living in a bus, being as sustainable as possible as parents and partners, plus you run a not for profit, a sustainable beauty brand and self-love club and you’re writing a book. Please explain?
Montana: Two things… The why? And the how? Starting with the why - I’ve always had a lot of energy. The more time I spend in nature, the more I am inspired to create in alignment and protect her. And the how? Learning to ask for help and looking for it in the right places. I wouldn’t be able to do any of it without my amazing team and such a supportive partner.

CB: Did you share a value set in sustainability and ethics and have the same goals from the beginning of your relationship, or is that something that developed and grew with you as a couple over time?
Montana: We both grew up in nature and naturally gained respect for it. There’s been a few things to adapt to over time including unconscious plastic use and meat consumption, but we’ve naturally grown together over time. I think once you understand something, it’s impossible to overlook it. 
Tom: Our values although hazy at the beginning, quite quickly dovetailed together to create something that works beautifully. Montana was a vegan for quite a long time, before I came along and for me to be able to provide protein from the ocean is beautiful.

CB: What does purpose mean to you and how would you articulate yours?
Montana: I think as humans our purpose is to live our life with integrity, authenticity and honesty, and to allow others the same freedom. How that looks is different for everyone, but as long as we are following that voice inside of us guiding us to the light of what truly makes us spark, then we are following our purpose. 
Tom: I cannot articulate that any differently than Montana. I’ll add, to leave this planet better than how we found it by educating our children.

CB: What are you most passionate about?
Montana: Empowering women through education and choice, from providing products that are as good for people as they are for the planet, to giving my little girl the space to be whoever her unique soul came here to be.
Tom: Educating the planet that everyone has the ability to change the world we live in just by changing their buying habits. Hunting and gathering, being part of the cycle of life of our world and not above it.

CB: What drives you?
Montana: Joy.
Tom: The feeling of flow/immersion

CB: What scares you?
Montana: The loss of freedom
Tom: My body breaking down

CB: What does the future hold for you? 
Montana: We’re currently traveling Australia in search of our ‘forever’ home somewhere by the forest for me and the sea for Tom, with lots of room for fruit trees and animals for Blue. A little home to feel safe and comfy and provide a space for healing for the land and whoever we are lucky enough to share it with.
Tom: Turning a house into a home and making Montana an Art studio. My dream for the future is to spend as much time exploring and learning about this planet as possible - on land and at sea - and showing my daughter and future children love, kindness and gratitude for all things in this world. Showing them that we are in fact a part of this planet and we are not above it.

When you hear the name Jordan Barrett, it’s likely that you may instantly associate his household name with labels such as “international model”, “Leonardo DiCaprio-esque looks” and “luxury fashion campaigns”. But after even a brief phone conversation with Barrett, for me, those off-the-cuff labels have since changed to “warm”, “down-to-earth” and “genuine Aussie guy” — as I’m sure would be the case for those close to him, too.

After moving to New York City six years ago at just 17-year-old, Barrett, now 24, has since become one of the world’s most prominent male faces and has spent far more time walking runways and fronting global campaigns for luxury fashion brands, than spending time back here on home soil.

“I usually only come home for four or five days a year,” admits Barrett after being asked about his current three-month stay in Australia. “I haven’t had this much time to connect and spend with my family and my friends since I left Australia six years ago. It’s nice just to be here — everything feels fresh and new, and we’re so lucky here at the moment in Australia.”

Like many Australian expats, Barrett has returned home temporarily due to the impacts of Covid-19 and — in true Jordan Barrett-style — is making the most of every second and every opportunity. “The biggest lesson I learned from 2020 is don’t ever take anything for granted, as cliché as that sounds, but that has never sat with me so perfectly,” he says. “I appreciate every single thing I’m able to do — to be able drive my car, to be able to be miserable in traffic, to be able to leave the house — I’m so lucky I was able to come home.”

While his time here might be limited before his return to New York City at the end of the month, Barrett still has some passion projects he’s determined to tick off, including completing a series of short films and contributing to one of Parley for the Oceans’ projects. “While I’m home, I would love to try and get a trip done with Parley TV and contribute to one of their projects — the work they’re doing with the ocean is incredible so I hope I can pull that off,” he says of the environmental organisation close to his heart where creators, thinkers and leaders raise awareness for our oceans.

Being lucky enough to call Australia home in today’s climate is something Barrett certainly doesn’t take for granted, but it has come at a cost. Finding himself in Panama in Central America when the Pandemic hit, Barrett now hasn’t been home to his apartment in New York City for over a year now. “I miss New York, I miss COVID New York and I miss pre-COVID New York. I miss my friends there, I miss everything about it — and I think a lot of people do right now — I can’t wait to get back there,” he says.

During any visit home, Barrett is conscious not to get too comfortable knowing his stays are typically brief, but this time around he’s allowed himself to really settle in — and perhaps even imagine what a more permanent move back home might look like.  “Normally, I try to not get too settled when I’m here, but at the same time I’ve really, really settled into Australia this time — I’ve made the most of the lifestyle here, the people, and the freedom that we have right now,” he says. “I love Australia — if I was ever to move back I think I’d like to be situated somewhere in Currumbin Valley, and that would probably be … a little bit later on in my life.”

For now though, it’s back to the hustle of New York City for Barrett where we know he will continue making Australia proud on the global stage.

When Georgia Fowler touched down in Australia on a flight from New York City at the beginning of March this year for a three-day job wheeling only a carry-on suitcase, she could have never predicted that nine months on, she still wouldn’t have boarded her return flight home. 

Just as it did for millions of people across the globe, the Covid-19 pandemic changed Fowler’s life in the most expected way. It was business as usual when the England-born, Australian-New Zealand model embarked on a brief trip to Sydney from New York City for a flying work visit when the pandemic hit. Call it fortunate or unfortunate timing, but Fowler was in Australia to stay for the foreseeable future.

Initially, Fowler locked down with her sister, her boyfriend, and her two young nieces, and braced herself for a lifestyle that she has never before experienced in her lifetime. To describe it as an unparalleled change in pace and routine to her usual day-to-day would be one of the great understatements, but it’s a change she’s clasped onto. “It’s been a definite change of pace from living in New York City and being on a plane every three days on a long haul, to not even being able to leave the house,” she says. “We just started to appreciate the little things and embraced being together in a real reset.”

After a few months of disbelief, doubt and uncertainty, Fowler began to embrace her new way of life in Australia, the rare opportunity to work with local creatives and her unusually close proximity to family which has meant watching her young nieces grow-up — a reality that Fowler knows wouldn’t have happened in any other circumstance. “I’ve loved being close to my family this year — my sister lives here with her two little girls, who are only three and four-years-old, so it’s been special to be able to see them grow up,” she says. “The first few months were a bit tricky — as they were for everyone with the uncertainty the world— but I ended up having quite a special year.”

While she’s now finally settled into her new slower-paced, seaside lifestyle, leaving New York City — the city she called home for over a decade — without a single goodbye; without packing up her apartment; without a final visit to her favourite café; or without a chance to recreate the magical memories made just one last time hasn’t come easy. “I just miss my friends that I’ve made over the years there. Most of them have kind of gone back to their homes, or moved to London or LA, so it’s been quite max exodus from New York City,” she says. “It will be strange when the borders are open, if I do go back there even just to visit, it will just be a very different city.”

But for now, it’s time for Fowler to focus on “the” Georgia Fowler, not just Georgia Fowler the model. Enter, GeorgiaFowler.Net. A few months into lockdown, Fowler decided that rather than waiting for the work to come to her, she would create the work. “I just thought that it would be amazing to have a platform on which I could share with my followers the actual products that I truly use and the brands that I love and want to work with,” she explains of her recently launched digital lifestyle platform with focusing on home, fashion, wellness and beauty. Taking advantage of many local creatives being light on work during the pandemic, Fowler took the initiative to collaborate with photographers, make-up artists and creators to make some magic. “Everyone was just at home and were feeling creative so I thought, let’s do what we always wanted to do and make the editorials we want,” she adds.

While her homecoming to Australia may not have been on the cards for a few years yet in a pre-pandemic world, not only is Fowler here to stay, but she couldn’t be happier about it. “I had always planned to maybe get to 30-years-old, round up my career and start making roots back here, but it’s just happened a little earlier than expected,” she admits. “I don’t foresee — even when the borders are open — that I will move back to America. I’ve had a taste of living by the beach with family nearby and it’s just too bloody good.”