INTERVIEW: Alternative Pop from Jude Austin, O

Sydney-based singer-songwriter, producer and filmmaker Jude Austin, performing under the artist name O, sees music as something far greater than just self-expression. Blending pop, alternative and blues influences, his work is wrapped in a sense of transformation, with every song acting as both a personal document and an invitation for listeners to examine their own experiences.

Before stepping forward as O, Jude had already established an extensive career as a filmmaker spanning nearly two decades. Across those years he worked on productions for RÜFÜS DU SOL, contributing to eight music videos including several recognised as Vimeo Staff Picks, filmed projects for Kesha with Spotify, worked with Baker Boy as part of an ARIA Award-nominated music video team and spent time on set alongside Billie Eilish.

Having penned more than two hundred songs, Jude has crafted a vast catalogue born from determination, turning experiences of domestic violence, adult bullying and his transition from female into his core self as male into music that lands with empathy and hope. That context gives O’s music a sense of purpose and his songs are intended to become a doorway into something beyond difficult moments.

Since 2022 he’s expanded his artistic output through Music Performance studies at South Bank TAFE, Music Production at Liveschool Sydney and Film Scoring at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. During that journey, one comment has remained especially significant; vocal teacher Peter Thornley, drawing on more than four decades of teaching experience, described Jude’s voice as the most unique he had encountered, believing that with the right recording environment and song it possessed the potential to reach audiences far and wide.

That encouragement arrived during a period of personal perseverance and following his transition, Jude lost his singing voice for eight months before gradually developing his male vocal while the recovery became another chapter in the artist’s wider story. Live performance has also become an increasingly important part of that journey, with Jude sharing his original material with audiences through performances including a sold out headline show at Hayes Street Studio in April last year, following an earlier appearance at Gasoline Pony in January 2024.

Offering the perfect showcase of his sound, his original single “Find Me at Home” has attracted praise from mix and mastering engineer Michael Lethos, known for his work with Daryl Braithwaite. The song also received support on social media from Bollywood and Hollywood performer Shannon K, further expanding awareness of Jude’s growing artistic profile.

Brought in by the delicate flutter of flute and soothing piano notes, Jude’s hushed voice enters to stitch tender melodies into the intricate musical fabric. Flowing with elegant melodies and mellow rhythmic sway, the song progresses with the laid back taps of drums, casting a highly affecting alternative pop soundscape that builds throughout. Splashing cymbals and layers of immersive instrumentation add to the ebb and flow as Jude’s gentle vocal performance delivers a truly moving scene that’s emotive and memorable in equal measure.

The next chapter arrives with an ambitious new goal and on the 10th of October, Jude will launch a Kickstarter campaign to fund the recording and release of his debut full-length album, set to arrive in September next year. Supporters will be invited to become part of the record’s creation through exclusive rewards while helping bring the project to life.

We caught up with Jude Austin, O to find out more about his musical journey so far, his latest single “Find me at Home” and what he’s got lined up for the future. Check out our interview with Jude Austin, O below.

Hey Jude, how’s things?

Doing well.

What’s your earliest memory of making music?

I learned drums for one term when I was 15 but I didn’t start formally until I was 31. I spent my 20s working as a filmmaker on the music videos for major artists such as Rufus du Sol. I was actually holding one of the guitars in the house where the music videos for Rufus du Sol and their first album was made and I remember saying to my collaborator at the time, “I just feel I should be able to play this!”

I started going to guitar lessons in 2019 after buying the cheapest guitar in the store which was this teal green colour. Soon after that I started weekly songwriting lessons where I began putting lyrics to various guitar chords.

Which artists do you draw most inspiration from?

I go through phases. I grew up on Haelos, Foals, Coldplay. At the moment I am deep diving into Swedish House Mafia as I’m working on new dance music.

How else do you find inspiration for your music?

I’ve done all the books in the Artist’s Way series! I go for artist dates weekly. I watch lots of movies and dive into music documentaries. They inspire me with new emotions. It’s my overactive inner emotional life that feeds the need to write music regularly. It’s how I stay stable in a chaotic world- my consistent writing practice, putting my emotions to paper, to song.

What do you love about the Sydney music scene?

I’m not as involved deeply in performing in the greater Sydney music scene at the moment. I put on shows from time to time (and try to make them unique) attracting small intimate groups of people who are friends and friends of friends. I also perform and occasionally host at an Open Mic Night. Within these groups I believe there is a nurturing feeling and a sense of family. We all know each other and try to be caring of each other as we grow in music. I believe we really support each other, curious about each other’s pursuits.

Of course there’s a wider Sydney music scene, but I haven’t been out to it as much since I was in my 20s, where I was very much watching and going to gigs for a lot of the artists I supported as a filmmaker. This was a big time for EDM and you really felt you were in the middle of something big. It was big at the time. Now I understand it as a once in a lifetime kind of movement and feeling.

What would you say is the perfect setting for listeners to enjoy your sound?

Actually possibly on your own, in contemplation, in nature, in a cafe.

How has your own style and sound evolved since you started out?

I wrote a lot of pop, alternative rock music for years- singer/songwriter based from 2019 onward. This is where I came from. But now I also have an Electronic Dance Music Side Project called ‘Jupiter the Protector’ which is 100% weird techno sounds made 100% in a computer. With this side project I’m now inspired to also make house/progressive melodic tunes.

So I am now supporting two totally different worlds of songwriting- pop, alternative, blues and separately electronic dance. I really love that. These are two important and distinct opposite ends of my personality which really support each other to stand.

The starting point for singer/songwriter type pop music for me is lyrics, melodies, the guitar, and the page. The starting point for EDM really is weird drum patterns and a feeling I want to express. Now I’m adoring how they’re merging as I’m starting to (try to) write dance music which starts with a singer/songwriter base and I add a techno beat underneath.

Who would be your dream artist to collaborate with?

Coldplay. Also been trying for Crowded House!

How did you find making your latest single “Find me at Home”?

The first songwriting session happened in one hour with my co-writer- it was one of those ‘all came together to express an emotion’ that was so alive for me at the time. After this this song was parked for 5 years until I had the Music Production skills enough to pick it up again.

The music production side was a lot of cold, difficult nights in my little home studio under my bunk bed. I would say it was very very lonely, but also I went into it a very different producer/person than when I came out of it. When the orchestral sounds went in I would find myself spellbound at times. I didn’t realise I had that inside of me.

What message did you want to get across with this release?

It’s kind of my big ‘opening statement’ to the world in a new world I’m introducing. The first step is catharsis, letting go of the structures we once felt safe in and all we’ve known so we can be a new home to ourselves. That’s the hard road I’ve had to be walking alone for many years and how to overcome the hardships along the way to be yourself, that’s what I have to share.

Find me at Home is the first open doorway to a body of work that is about a world beyond the one we currently see.

What artist have you been listening to most recently?

Swedish House Mafia- very much diving into the world of dance. Cried about 20 times to Don’t You Worry Child.

The 2010s was the music that was my 20s and listening to it from this vantage point and time period brings fascinating insights about the important emotions that fed into and came with the EDM culture of music at that time. I’ve been thinking a lot about that massive moment EDM had in our pop culture for around 6 years.

It felt like it was inspiring us with this new vision and this drive forward to achieve it.

What’s the main thing you want people to get out of listening to your music?

I actually don’t think about this too much. I like instead when people come up to me and share how they’ve felt- it always surprises me. What I often think about is what we can feel in community together in these intimate spaces I try to create where we not only get along, but share, collaborate, warm each other’s hearts.

I’m just trying to communicate a feeling and a new world through the experiences I’ve lived.

What’s been your favourite live performance so far?

I performed with my music teacher Toby and my classmate Will some covers and some originals for our final year performance in 2022 on the college green. It was an incomparable atmosphere for me- the sun, the people sitting on the green engaging with the performance. It was also about me living in a new state from where I grew up and it felt like all these magical things had come together into this one performance to communicate something really special.

I often think about whether that special moment in time could magically come together another time in the future. I never know.

Do you have any advice for a new artist wanting to follow your footsteps?

What do you really want to do right now, the first step? Do that!

Finally, what do you have lined up next?

I’m launching a kickstarter to help fund my debut album on 10th October 2026. More info here- debutalbum.world/

After that in 2027 I’ll be recording the album (with some of the musicians I’ve mentioned above), sending it to the world, and holding an album launch in Sydney. This will kick off a whole string of new singles from the album, music videos, and unique new surprise performances.

Listen to Find me at Home below