There's something effortless about Xavier Rudd's music.
It's been six years since he released a solo studio album, because he waits patiently for those songs. A few years ago, while taking part in a ritual in the Amazon rainforest, a song just came to him.
"It sort of happens to me all the time. Songs just turn up when they're ready. I've never been someone who's sat down and tried to write a song, they just seem to come along when they're meant to," Rudd told AAP.
Storm Boy is his ninth studio album - a perfect companion to his previous work, praising the environment and calling for people to work together.
It opens with the anthemic Walk Away, encouraging people to let go of the things that are holding them back.
Protecting the environment, something Rudd feels passionate about, is also a running theme throughout all his music.
"I love the natural world. I grew up outside, I wasn't an indoors kid," he said.
"I love our earth and I have a real passion for it, so naturally I write a lot about that, it's what fuels me."
But on this album he's also praising humanity. He respects movements, such as #MeToo, where he can see people are bringing about change.
"I believe in those movements. I believe in people standing tall and wanting to make change and making that effort. I respect that because sometimes people feel like they can't but they can. People can do a lot," he said.
On the track Keep It Simple he urges people to walk together, hand in hand, because he believes in people power.
"We can get so much done together and be open, even in the environmental world, if all the various little groups that are doing great things in the planet linked arms and worked together you can make huge changes."
His ideas and songs may be idealistic, but it comes from a strong belief in what people can achieve, coming from his two decades spent touring the globe.
"I've spent the last nearly 20 years travelling around playing music and I've seen a lot and done a lot, and I guess I reflected," he says.
"Music is my journal so I don't have any preconceived ideas of what I want it to be. I just let it be what it is and it comes out the way it comes out."
*Xavier Rudd's album Storm Boy is out on May 25 and he will tour the country in August.
Australian Associated Press
