Your new album is titled Scattered on the Wind – how important is the natural environment to you as a source of inspiration?

I value time alone. Being out amongst the natural elements is really healthy for your headspace. I particularly love the ocean and I make it part of my daily routine to swim. It’s very medicinal. It gives me clarity and I also find it keeps me focused and grounded which always helps when you’re being creative.

Sophie HutchingsSophie Hutchings. Photo © Luke Dubbelde

Who have been your most important musical or artistic influences?

This is always a hard one for me to answer because as other composers might relate, writing for me is always a very visceral process. I’m very unaware of what I’m doing when I’m writing. There’s a certain part of me that disengages and ventures deep into that subliminal state. So as a whole I think it’s what I’m reading, watching, listening and experiencing that has an overall effect on my psyche and comes out pretty organically in my writing process. Like I might stumble across a really powerful line in a book or it might be some...