Introducing #292 - Baby Smith
Let us introduce you to Baby Smith - the project of Australia-born, Berlin-based Ray Sonder and Saxon Gable. They have just provided us with their new track 'Walkie Talkie', the latest taster from their debut album 'Lately, Love Is Dead' - which is due out on July 10th.
Ray Sonder and Saxon Gable grew up in sleepy beach towns on Australia’s east coast. Their parents were hippies and rockers. They were spoon fed Nirvana and The Beatles on the car stereo whether they liked it or not. Both self taught musicians, they began writing songs from an early age, evoking the quiet beaches of Byron Bay and the wild Gondwana Rainforest that were their back yards.
By university, they were writing hazy, sun-kissed demos to upload online and burn onto CDs for their friends. Inspired by technicolour, small-town beatniks and surfers, and the romantic soundtracks of their early youth, the foundations of Baby Smith were laid a long time ago. But neither Saxon nor Ray knew each other yet, despite likely crossing paths.
The pair each moved to Berlin from Sydney separately and within two weeks of each other to explore new subcultures and write songs. They met, and soon married, spiritually united by their affection for the whimsical, intimate, deeply melodic sounds of 1960s psychedelia and 1990s Grunge. What followed their creative union was musical exploration and experiments that led to the genesis of Baby Smith in 2023.
They took a moment to talk to us about how their music.
Hey there Baby Smith- how are you? So your track ‘Walkie Talkie’ is out now - can you tell us what it is about?
Hi! We are good! Yes, Walkie Talkie is out in the world. For us this track is a lot about insecurity in relationships, questioning the person you’re with and wondering if they feel the same about you. We feel like that's an experience the majority of people have been through and navigating those feelings can be tough.
Where are you from and what are your favourite things to do there?
We are both from Australia, Ray from Byron Bay and Saxon from Sydney. Although cliché the beach is pretty unbeatable down there, so that's always top of the list. Otherwise we mostly just enjoy eating our favourite comfort foods, going to the pub and catching up with friends and family.
What are the key influences when it comes to your music?
We have a very large selection of influences which we hope shine through in our music, the ultimate one being the Beatles, although this is not so much in a stylistic sense. It’s rather that we take a lot of influence from classic pop in terms of song structures and we attempt to write tightly packaged tracks. Walkie Talkie is a great example of this influence in terms of structure and stylistically we wanted this to be a bit whacky. Other key influences would be film and visual arts. We are very into indie films and try to consume this in a very conscious way. We also were influenced a lot by André Courrèges in terms of our own aesthetic for the record.
How would you describe your sound to someone who has never listened to your music before?
We always struggle to answer this, at its base its guitar indie music, but we hope it's also a lot more than that. Lush harmonies, groovy synth lines, a hint of psychedelia - of rock, of pop… We like the fact that we have songs you can dance and move to as well as more reflective and introspective songs and we strive to keep that variety because we want to reflect a range of emotions we are going through whilst writing the songs.
Now the track is out there - what's next for you?
We are about to release our debut album ‘Lately, Love is Dead’ on July 10th. We’ve got summer festivals and a European and UK tour coming at the end of the year, our first headline tour, which is exciting! So we are just focusing on the release as well as writing songs for the next album. We’re trying to enjoy the ride and stay on top of everything. As an independent project we are constantly working, whether it be writing, performing, making videos, answering emails, booking tours etc. You’ve got to be good at multitasking, that's for sure!
Catch Baby Smith live at the following dates:
15.09.26 Bristol UK - The Gallimaufry
16.09.26 London UK - Sebright Arms
17.09.26 Glasgow UK - Nice N Sleazy
18.09.26 Newcastle UK - Three Tanners Bank
