My early Friday morning is McCombs’ afternoon and he has spent the day socialising and eating tortilla chips with a friend.

In some ways this is the perfect setup for a discussion surrounding his work, in so much as it is an honest and warm recounting of his day, with no doubt meaningful and humorous conversation with said friend. It feels reflective of his identity as a writer in a small way. McCombs first emerged with his debut EP Not the Way (2002), followed by a run of critically revered studio albums including A (2003) and PREfection (2005), establishing his reputation for literate, humorous and quietly subversive songwriting, imbued with humour and America folklore. Later releases such as Wit’s End (2011), Mangy Love (2016), Heartmind (2022), and his most recent 2025 album Interior Live Oak, McCombs has continued to build a singular, introspective catalogue that resists convention, unfolds on its own terms, and on that changes as an artist changes.

When asked of his anticipation or excitement to return to Australia, McCombs assesses the flight time: “I mean, it's a long ass journey, but, and I've done it before soI guess I can do it again.” As to whether he feels as to whether he has evolved as an artist in the past decade, McCombs lightheartedly says, “well, I've probably regressed, you know, I've probably slid back down into de-evolution.I can't guarantee that we're that we've improved at all but I remember the shows that last time and they were a blast.”

Whether or not McCombs’ self evaluation is true, a far more interesting, and fundamentally human approach, to one's creative development is one of a feeling that ebbs and flows, rather than a cumulative building of skills and success. This refusal of linearity becomes even more pronounced when discussing his recent double album, Live Interior Oak, a format that feels almost oppositional in an era of singles, EPs and songs written with social media in mind. It could have been perceived as an artistic act of rebellion, or merely the format that services the songs. For McCombs it's “the latter, really. I mean, zero thought went into that. I just wrote the songs that I wanted to write and ended up liking them, unfortunately for everyone else! I enjoy the songs so it just had to be this way. There was no premeditated concept at all.”

I wonder if it is the luxury of having such an extensive library of music and songs that allows McCombs to defy some of the industry's current expectations stating, “I just enjoy the songs the way they are and I'm wilfully ignorant of what is inappropriate. I just know what I like, and that's about it.”

The most recent single, Seeing the Elephant, exists within this same intuitive framework, less a new chapter than a continuation of Interior Live Oak, “lyrically, it has a lot of the same themes of Northern California, both past and present, maybe the future?” Northern California, in McCombs’ work, operates less as geography than as mythology, a recurring landscape through which themes of memory, time, and identity are refracted. I’m curious as to what the allure of American mythology and folklore is within his works but McCombs explains its not so limited but, “it's just myth in general.” McCombs knows a lots about California, so naturally it comes up, but the allure with my is that “that which we call ‘modern’ is not too dissimilar to to many of the themes that have existed, have always existed, you know?” For McCombs perhaps myth is the vessel for exploring timeless universals, he explains, “I think there is still room for experimentation, new ideas and fresh outlooks. Each person is unique, a star, but it comes with its own baggage that you can't really quantify in a mythological archetype[...] I think looking at things in terms of mythology is inspiring and it is just an outlook, really.” If myth was an engine driving an outlook or perspective for McCombs writing, I wanted to know what influences, from any medium, were present during the construction of Live Interior Oak, although it is not something he remembers so will remain something for the listener to speculate on.

Reflecting on his canon, and having albums in the double digits, I wonder if a writer so prolific still wrestles with self doubt or writes block, and perhaps if he even has a method out of it. “I suffer from the abyss of doubt constantly and when that happens, there's no solution. It's just pure despair, you just have to wait and not worry too much, I suppose.” Time being the great healer is not an unknown suggestion although an unlikely one for someone who describes themselves as ‘impatient with self destructive tendencies.’ As such, McCombs is grateful for the support network he has to pull him back from the brink and offer savoury snacks.

Irrespective of the darker moments that resist creation, the library exists, when asked about the unifying thread across his catalogue, McCombs resists the premise. “I don't really know how to to think about myself and my work and in those terms. When you get started, you're so young, and you don't really have it all figured out. When I started, one song turned into two songs and they turned into more. I guess I'm just trying to write something that feels truthful and in that moment; not really to worry about contradicting myself in the future, because people change. I've changed, and hopefully for the better, probably for the worse in some ways, but, I don't really have a grand scheme.”

An evasion tactic for hypocrisy and a vehicle for exploration is McComb’s ability to imagine the world through the eyes of another. “One thing that's helpful is imagining through characters' hypothetical perspectives, and inventing contradictory perspectives, you know? Even characters who not might not be trustworthy or good people, I'm interested in the outcasts of society and what is overlooked and disregarded.” Imagination has governed McCombs creativity since the imaginary friends and toys he had as a child and sees some of these character driven songs as an extension of the imaginary games children play.

This childlike wonder and imagination is something that is preserved for McCombs within his music and he explains, “well, that's a wonderful thing about music, it feels joyful. It is just, essentially a joyful thing to do. To play guitar, piano or sing, it's just an enjoyable thing for me to do. And then, and while your hands are busy, your mind is allowed to wander.” As McCombs’ mind wanders joyfully, it is tempting to ask of the humorous nature of some of his lyric writing, which although he denies a grand scheme in his work, seems ever present. “Humour is big, a lot of great writers that I admire blur the lines between terrifying situations and hopeful and enlightening observations.” For those looking for a master class in this paradox, McComb’s recommends Samuel Beckett as a favourite. For those looking for a myriad of perspectives within a man, or the necessity of light and dark within meaningful songwriting, McCombs is the writer for you.

Cass McCombs will be touring Australia from 28-31 May in Melbourne, Castlemain and Sydney as part of Vivid Sydney's 2026 lineup. Tickets and gig information is available via Cass McCombs' website.