When your claim to fame is bassist in a globally touring electro-pop group, carving out a career as a solo artist in a similar genre isn't easy.

That hasn't stopped Ben Browning—best known for his work in Cut Copy—from seriously pursuing his own projects though. After releasing his synth-laden debut LP Turns this summer, the multi-instrumentalist performed his largest solo shows including a late summer bash at the Santa Monica Pier, which drew 15,000 people. Before he dives back into recording Cut Copy's fifth record, we spoke with Browning on his musical background, how the full-length came about and what it's like for the bassist to perform as a frontman. 

Hometown: Melbourne, Australia 

Homebase: Washington, DC

So how did you become interested in electronic music?

It just kind of happened. When I went to college, I got introduced to things like synthesizers…all of our friends were playing records by Kraftwerk, a bunch of German bands from the '70s…I've been playing indie or rock stuff a fair bit up until then, but I've always been interested in some kind of more esoteric sounds as well. Even a lot of '70s prog stuff has some crazy synthesizer parts. And then I got into dance music around that Daft Punk, French House kind of era.

How is the creative process as a solo artist different from working on music as part of a band?

Sometimes it helps when you have an idea in your head for a song, you can get it all out quickly when it's just you—and you know what you want. Sometimes you get clarity, a clear vision of what you want to achieve…I'm with quite a lot of people when I work on this stuff [though]. There's people who play on my record who I've known for ten years.

Have the songs on the full-length been in the development process for a long time?

Between writing and recording Cut Copy albums, there's not a lot of time to write and record my own music. So some of the tracks on my latest album have been going on for a few years now. But generally when I'm writing a song—I feel like if the song is really going to work, it usually comes together pretty quickly. That doesn't happen all of the time, though…It's not easy to just churn out the songs. You know, I think, for me, a good song is a good song regardless of production.

Definitely. Are there particular themes that you're trying to communicate on the full-length? 

Just kind of my outlook on life. I think my music that I try to make is almost like a sanctuary from some regular life. It's kind of escapist in some ways. There's a sense of nostalgia to a lot of it. I have a lot of musical ideas in my head. All of it is trying to find that imagined place or escape from reality that I find inspiring or exciting. That can be sort of deep synthesizers, or the right sort of vocal melody.

Do you think that your recent move to DC has changed your creative process?

Yeah. A lot of the people I collaborate with are still based in Australia so I've found myself doing a lot more work just by myself here. But also, I've got a lot less distractions, you know, with so many of my friends in Melbourne…And, you know, it's a different environment. It's a relatively still a new city for me which is, you know, inspiring and kind of gives you—it shakes you up a little bit when you move cities. I think you can get a little bit stagnant being in the same spot doing the same things over and over.

What's it like being the center of attention performing as a solo artist? 

I'm the bass player in Cut Copy and I'm the singer for my solo project. So there's a different dynamic—I'm the frontman, which means I have to talk to the audience and try and carry the show a little bit, I guess. Not that I'm conscious of that specifically, but I guess that's what it is…But I still enjoy myself like I would any show. When I play music live, I'm trying to enjoy the music like I did when I first heard the song or if it's my own song—I'm trying to give the audience the same feeling of enjoyment of the music as I did when I first heard the song.