Matt Corby’s fourth studio album happened almost by accident. “I wanted to make an instrumental record, which I don’t think anyone’s really interested in me doing,” he tells Apple Music with a laugh. As the singer-songwriter pursued the idea, for fun he continued to co-write more traditional songs in sporadic bursts with Nat Dunn, Chris Collins, Dann Hume, and, on “Burn It Down,” Sydney soul singer Meg Mac. One day, after about 18 months, co-producer Collins realized they had enough material for a full album. Where 2023 predecessor Everything’s Fine was informed by the trauma of the COVID years and the floods that devastated Corby’s coastal town, Tragic Magic is a looser collection of songs. “There was no concept where I was like, ‘This is what the album’s about,’” reflects Corby. “I just wanted to make songs that felt good. It didn’t bother me that it’s not all a soul record or a lo-fi record or a folk record or whatever people would expect of me.” Not surprisingly, given its fluid and almost accidental creation, Tragic Magic is all those things, from the horn-laden soul of “Locked In” to the slinky, stripped-back “Big Ideas” and Radiohead-esque claustrophobia of “Know It All.” Here, Corby walks Apple Music through Tragic Magic, track by track. “King of Denial” “It’s all about the concept of thinking that you’re doing good and then realizing that you’re just an idiot. It’s one of those hilarious songs where you just say, ‘I’ve got no fucking clue what I’m doing.’” “Is It Healthy” “Are the things that I’m doing good for me? Is too much of a good thing a bad thing? When you’re in a relationship or a friendship, is this something that we’re benefiting from or are we spiraling into a co-dependent kind of toxic relationship?” “Big Ideas” “I had to be a little bit brave with this one. When me and Dann [Hume] wrote it, it was so simple in its musicality. I almost felt a little uncomfortable with that. I wouldn’t have been able to do a song like this four or five years ago because I would have tried to put more onto it. It’s very minimal.” “Long and Short” “This is a very sad song. It’s about death. My partner’s mum got diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, declined really fast, and passed away. It was tragic for the whole family. She was a wonderful human being, full of life. She was only 68.” “Know It All” “This was written three days after she passed. I was in a very low, dark mood and was in the studio, and I put some chords down on the piano from start to finish. What you hear on that song is that moment. And then the lyrics, I was just talking about a play-by-play of little moments that I remember about the last couple of weeks.” “Stained” “Loving yourself is tricky; loving other people is hard. The combination of the two sometimes doesn’t line up. And that’s the reality of trying to keep a relationship OK.” “Burn It Down” “Something fun and uptempo and soulful. But it’s a sad relationship song. [Laughs] It’s like, ‘We’re doing it! But it’s hard.’ Again, trying not to take yourself too seriously with things like that.” “Locked In” “This almost didn’t make the record. Maybe because it is so derivative or something. It’s almost like, do a soul song—a soul song sounds like this. But it feels good. I think that’ll be a fun one to sing live. It’s just a cute love song.” “War to Love” “Love’s a choice. Sometimes it’s a difficult choice, but it’s the right choice all the time. And sometimes the right thing is not easy at all. That’s the central premise.” “Sad Eyes” “This was directed at my eldest son. He’s a very sensitive human. He’s been through a lot over the last couple of years, with his grandma passing and our house flooded. He’s had to be strong. I think he’s had to push down his playfulness, which makes me a little sad. The whole thing is reflecting on [how] the older he gets, the more he’s going to detach from us and go out into the world. And we’re hoping that we’ve given him enough love and the tools to survive, whilst reminding him that we’re always going to be here.” “Maggie” “There was a magpie singing outside the studio and I started recording the melody. The first chords you hear with the magpie singing is me going, ‘What chords are going to work over that melody?’ Then the bird sings with me on the last chord! We listened to it back and were like, ‘That’s actually a really good intro.’ Then we wrote the song off that. That was just one of those beautiful moments where nature and man combine.” “Winning Ticket” “The melody came from a game we heard one day when we were at the pub. We were like, ‘Imagine if we could put that into a song.’ Then we called the song ‘Winning Ticket,’ which is hilarious.” “Maker” “The song is about the position you put yourself in as someone who creates things in this modern era. It’s, for the most part, quite thankless. It’s getting harder. What it is to be someone who makes something and truly cares is a crazy journey.”