Like many other things in life, musical acts come and go.
Some run out of creative juices and consciously call it a day. Some others vanish for years only to resurface with a new-found energy later. You also come across artists capable of reinventing themselves to stay true to their personal and artistic values.
I call the last group “musical chameleons”. Bastian Hues is definitely one of them.
PART 219 OF “AM I EVER GONNA SEE YOUR FACE AGAIN?” A RANDOM COLLECTION OF UNKNOWINGLY OBVIOUS FACTS ABOUT THE AUSTRALIAN MUSIC SCENE
I met Bastian Hues in a different life – mine and his.
In 2017, I was a complete newbie in the Aussie music scene. Eager to get a real taste of it, I jumped at every possibility to get to know emerging artists, visit historic venues and meet some local music industry legends. The best way to experience Melbourne’s vibe behind the scenes was to get involved with different events, like checking the tix at the door, helping with bump-in and bump-out and greeting the acts as they arrived in the clubs.
That’s how I met Bastian. He organised some events in the city. Back then, however, he performed under a different artist moniker.
His previous project, Blyolk, earned him recognition from the Australian music press. And not every up-and-coming artist boasts this achievement. Because even though the Melbourne music community is vibrant and supportive (at least in my experience), it’s a tricky scene to break through.
So, I followed Blyolk’s ventures with great interest. I was particularly impressed by how well he planned all his releases. From my perspective, it looked like he was on a good path to cracking the magical formula and taking it to the next level.
Then, in mid-2019, he slowly started changing direction.
At that point, I’d already come back to Europe. Then, You-Know-What happened, so the socials were my only source of info about what was cooking on the other side of the world.
I noticed that Blyolk somehow morphed into a different musical beast who was doing a lot of other cool things in the business. Sometimes, he’d interview artists, like when he chatted to Edward ‘Cregan’ Quinn from (then) Slum Sociable (and now Telenova) for Beat Collective. Later, he shared an update about working for The StageLeft Podcast, editing, scoring, mixing and doing branding for the show.
In the meantime, he was also writing new music that sounded slightly different from his previous tracks.
“Over time, I felt the need to shed the [Blyolk] character and write with more authenticity,” he shares with me. As he matured as an artist, his focus shifted toward breaking down the barriers between himself and his music, removing the wall between his voice and his words. This is how the new artistic persona was born.
Bastian Hues has always been a sonic explorer. A boundary-pushing, sensitive songwriter and a multidisciplinary artist, he blends raw emotion with future-facing soundscapes. Rooted in neurodivergence, his work embraces the tension between focus and freedom, finding harmony in imperfection.
That last part is significant in this story. As an artist with ADHD and autism, Bastian has wrestled with the idea of these labels, questioning whether to submit to their limitations or embrace them as a different way of seeing the world.
I’m stoked to see he’s gone with the latter option. I remember seeing an update on his socials about an event called “Overcomplicated ADHD Fest” in November 2023. Funnily, that was also the first time he dropped the single’s title and the last time I heard anything from/about him.
Until a few days ago when – all of a sudden – he dropped “Overcomplicated” on Bandcamp.
Bizarrely, the single was released exactly six years to the day after his final song “Dogspeed” from Blyolk. “The release date wasn’t planned at all,” he states in his press release. “I put it out in a moment of frustration, feeling so blocked in my life that something had to change. Crazy what the universe does.”
Six years is a long time between old and new music. But there was a good reason why the Melbourne artist was reluctant to share new tunes—his fear of rejection made him constantly wait “for the perfect moment.” He’d also built up so much expectation around releasing music that he was constantly worried about how people would receive it.
“The funny thing about ‘Overcomplicated’ is that I actually wrote it back in 2018,” he explains. “I always loved the melody, but the lyrics never felt quite right. It felt like too good of a melody to waste on words that didn’t fully capture me. So I kept rewriting it.”
That process stretched out for years. And it wasn’t because he was working on the song the whole time, but because he kept second—guessing whether it was finished enough. “Honestly, it probably was”, he confesses.
Today, he’s pretty sure the song was essentially done by mid-2024. Yet, he kept tweaking it. “Which is kind of ironic, given the title,” he adds.
Coincidentally (or not?), that creative process seemed like a textbook definition of overcomplicating things instead of making them simple. And that’s what the song is mainly about. At its core, it talks about Bastian’s frustrations with his neurodiversity, particularly ADHD, and the cycles of overthinking, hesitation, and self-sabotage that come with it.
But there’s another layer to “Overcomplicated”, too. It reflects on the artist’s relationship with his mum. “I love her deeply, but we tend to butt heads, and I often feel like we’re not as close as I’d like us to be,” he confesses. So in many ways, writing this song was a way of processing that dynamic. He started seeing his mum’s struggles more clearly rather than through his own frustrations.
Beyond that, “I think this song speaks to anyone who feels limited by their patterns—the mistakes they keep making, the habits they can’t seem to break,” he summarises. He wants to remind everyone that those limitations don’t define us. It’s not about being stuck. It just takes courage to make change and find the capacity to move forward.
Hence, frustration is the perfect word to describe “Overcomplicated”, especially when Bastian worked on finishing the song. He even quotes a story to illustrate that feeling.
“At one point, I was in Margaret River, staying at [a friend’s] farm. And in a moment of rage, I decided to delete every single copy of the song. I’d tried so many things to get it right that I was just done. I played John [the farm’s owner] different versions of it, and he really liked them. And then I played it for him on the piano. It was so simple. Everything just felt in tune and aligned—it was moving for him and for me. That moment made me realise how much I still believed in the song. But in a weird manic burst of inspiration, I deleted every file, every project, leaving no trace of it behind. I thought I’d force myself to start fresh.”
Unsurprisingly, he then got stuck again. He’d erased all his reference points, hoping for a clean slate, but instead, he just hit a wall.
He did find an old backup demo on Google Drive, though. So he thought that—maybe—he should just put out that version of the song.
He went outside to lie in a field and listened to it. And that’s when he realised his small Samsung SSD was still stuck to the back of his computer, which meant the project file was still there and the track wasn’t gone. “It felt like a blessing. Like some higher power had given me a second chance with this song,” he recalls.
After that, he decided to approach everything completely differently. He’d already grieved the track, so when it reappeared, he finally started truly appreciating it. So he worked hard for a couple of months to finish it and got it mixed.
And then… he went travelling and moved overseas with his girlfriend. Life got in the way—again. And he ended up procrastinating on the release—again.
In March 2025, he realised putting it off was no longer viable. “If I don’t start now, I’ll wake up in 2055 with a lifetime of regrets,” he reasoned with himself. He needed to get it out to unblock himself. Especially since it was his first official release under a different name.
Dropping the song felt to Bastian like closing a loop. Against all odds, he managed to turn that hyperfocus and perfectionism into something beautiful, overcoming his performance anxiety at the same time. “And now, here it is,” he admits with relief.
Finally, he can also talk about the song’s sonic layers and inspirations.
Amongst the musical influences that helped create the track’s warped pop sensibilities, he mentions Talking Heads, St. Vincent, and The Beach Boys’ lost masterpiece, SMiLE. And instrumentally, “Overcomplicated” is a bold experiment.
Bastian often bends the traditional guitar rules, transforming it into a new synth-inspired sonic playground. Inspired by sound design pioneers like SOPHIE and A.G. Cook, he thrives on warping textures and redefining what a guitar can be.
He pushes the instrument to uncharted territories, using a multichannel guitar pickup, where each string is isolated and can be individually processed. He treats it as everything from a melody generator to a drum kit, triggering different sounds from different strings by playing bass, drums, and guitar sounds all at once. “That will become much more apparent in my live shows,” he promises. “And I’m really excited about that.”
His other influences extend far beyond music. He’s drawn to the mad scientist brilliance of Heston Blumenthal and the childlike wonder of Willy Wonka. Family is another constant source of inspiration, fueling his curiosity, creativity, and relentless desire to break moulds.
But another venture led to the song’s release as well.
Leaving Australia and seeking community has been a pivotal part of Bastian’s transition. Whether through online men’s embodiment spaces—working through the traumas of puberty, childhood bullying, and his relationship with anger and sex—or hosting events for ADHDers, he’s committed to creating spaces where neurodivergence feels seen and understood.
A large part of Bastian’s artistic evolution is discovering a new form of expression through his body. Embodiment is no longer just a concept. It’s a way to process trauma, grief, and the overwhelming energy of the world. Stimming, dance, and physical movement have become essential tools in his creative practice, allowing him to express what words and sounds sometimes can’t.
So this “Overcomplicated” story of procrastination has a happy ending after all.
It certainly looks like Bastian Hues has found his mission—he wants to create without compromise, push boundaries without hesitation, and invite listeners into a space where authenticity reigns. His new music is a step beyond convention and comfort. It’s about something undeniably real.
I’m rooting for this chapter in his artistic journey, curious to see what comes next. And I hope you’ll find his music ventures relatable, too.
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