For Singapore dream-pop outfit motifs, the past year has been one of quiet reckoning. The band — known for their lush, cinematic shoegaze sound — traded humid nights for the frozen expanse of Iceland’s Sundlaugin Studios, where Sigur Rós once shaped their celestial soundscapes. What began as a trip to record an EP became something else entirely: an emotional map of growing up, slowing down, and learning to meet each other again — even across distance and time.
Their new four-track EP, If This House Was Bigger (out now via KittyWu Records), peers into what they call “the uneasy present.” It’s heavier, quieter, more open-ended — tracing the weight of adulthood, missed moments, and the strange comfort of stillness. Alongside the release, motifs will also premiere a short film documentary chronicling their time in Iceland — a tender, deeply personal portrait of the band as both artists and friends.
Before their performance at the Sing60 Music Festival's Bandwagon Sessions stage this December, Hear65 caught up with Paul Yuen (bass) and Elspeth Ong (vocals/guitar) to talk about lost moments, growing pains, frozen rivers, and finding beauty in the in-between.
‘Aug 16’ is described as being about “a moment that slipped away too quietly.” Was there a specific memory that inspired that feeling, and did it happen on 16 August?
Paul: The first riff idea was sent on 16 August by Badrul. It was an instant hook for me, similar to the feeling I had for 'Valentine'. It reminded me of the songs that accompanied me during early adulthood and the synth work was sparkling to me.
Els: When I first heard Badrul’s demo of 'Aug 16' (without vocals), I didn’t know what to write about. I had nothing to say, and couldn’t figure out what the song was trying to say. I remember Lowertown (a band) mentioning that they wrote a song entirely with words from a single newspaper page. I thought I’d try something like that, but was too lazy to leave my house and buy a newspaper. I looked in my cabinet, thinking maybe I’d use a magazine instead…
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But what I eventually chose was this thick ring binder, full of debts that my family owed. Most of these were official documents and letters, from debt collectors, banks, credit card companies, hospitals, home appliance stores… and they all dated back to when I was really, really young. Most of the debts are also currently still unpaid, I believe. I thought it’d be interesting to write a song using words from this folder of debts, since they were official documents and full of legal or technical jargon — cold and sterile in nature. But someone had to prepare these documents, from the accountant, to the clerk typing them up, to the worker sending them to the post office, to the postman who had to deliver those letters. All these people had their own stories. And most of all, on the receiving end of these letters was my family, who experienced many real anxieties upon receiving these very cold, sterile letters.
I guess subconsciously, memories of my childhood inspired this feeling. I wonder if my life would have turned out differently if my parents did some things differently. There was a letter from a credit card company, Diners’ Club. I decided that this song would be set in a diner, and I wrote the first line of 'Aug 16' — “Will you meet me at the diner?” I wanted this song to be sung from the perspective of a dreary salaryman filled with regret – I wanted it to make sense from multiple perspectives: the waitstaff at the diner, the postman who sent the letter, the clerk who typed the letter, the patron who’s waiting at the diner for someone who never shows up. This is a story of someone who’s losing something important and realizing it too late, and it’s not a unique, singular experience.
‘Heavy is the Air’ was born during a conversation beside a half-frozen river. What was said in that moment that became the seed for the song?
Paul: I guess we were missing home a little bit more on that day. Also thought about our journey so far, what it took to get there, the sacrifices made, and what we really held dear to us. A constant reminder perhaps — to go far is to go slow.
Els: I was talking to Paul at that river. It was so freezing cold and lots of lakes and rivers were frozen, but that one river outside Sundlaugin (the studio we were recording at) was unfrozen. There were two mandarin ducks that we saw often, swimming by that river. We were watching them that day. It was really, really cold. We were really stressed out in the lead-up to the trip to Iceland — the age difference between our oldest and youngest member is 12 years, so we are all at various stages of life, and we were all contending with our own personal lives and stresses. At the same time, we were also worried about the recording trip to Iceland.
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Our producer, Leonard Soosay, helped fund this trip, and JC (our recording engineer) and Teck (our videographer) came along on this trip to help with the album, documentary and music video. We did not want to waste anyone’s time or money, and it felt like so much was at stake. As bandmates, we knew everyone was making sacrifices to be on this trip, to leave our lives and families for two weeks to be here with each other and to make this record. It felt too big to tackle at times, and Paul and I were talking about all that stuff — how we started the band as strangers, not knowing a single thing. How far we’ve come since then, how much we’ve seen each other grow as people.
Paul has a young kid and I watched him tear up saying goodbye to his family at the airport. The stress we felt as a band was very palpable. After the conversation, Paul and I headed back into the studio and found our bandmates sort of already free-jamming. Paul joined in on the bass, and I started singing over the music. I got the lyrics down really fast, I think it was within 30 minutes or something. That is unusual — I did not have to overthink it. I also did not have to explain the lyrics to any of my bandmates — there was an immediate understanding. Our drummer, Jolin, put it very beautifully at our listening party last weekend. In our stress, we kept trying and trying to reach out to each other, and 'Heavy is the Air' is the moment where it clicked for us, and we find each other again and again.
‘Maybe in Another Dream’ is especially evocative — it touches on themes of inheritance, hesitation, and memory. What inspired that track, and how did the Rumi quote end up in the song?
Els: The Rumi quote inspired the song, actually. 'Julia' by mewithoutYou is one of my favourite songs, and in that song is a lyric inspired by that same Rumi quote as well. The chords were inspired by two songs specifically — 'Safe in Your Skin' by Title Fight and 'Ceilings' by Local Natives. I think about that quote a lot, and I think that I’m trying to navigate the relationship I have with people who took care of me as a child and raised me.
I often disagree with my parents on religion and faith, and these disagreements get quite intense. 'Maybe in Another Dream' is a dream I have of this field from the quote — where all ideas of right and wrong disappear, and my parents and I can just hang out as people, instead of as parent and child. I wonder then, if they would choose to sit there with me if they weren’t bound by parental obligation and responsibility. It is also a dream of a better life for my mom, if she had been dealt a better hand in life. It’s trying to find my way through all this stuff that exists from the people who came before me, and trying to find a place of origin, and I guess that entails trying to trace my mom’s footsteps as well.
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The EP peers into “the uneasy present” — tracing the quiet chaos of becoming and asking questions like, “How did I get here?” What parts of your own lives or conversations shaped these reflections?
Paul: We are all at different seasons of our lives. We are getting older — lives moving in different directions, timelines not lining up. We coined this EP If This House Was Bigger. It came together at a time when all of us were quietly asking the same question: is it still okay to keep doing this? We're all closing in on our adult lives — full-time jobs, family commitments, responsibilities that don't wait. Music no longer fits as easily as it once did, and some days, it feels like we’re growing out of it.
Els: Our debut album remember a stranger was so… naive. Listening to it now, it was made through the eyes of younger people who were less worn out by life. At least that’s what it feels like to me. It’s what Paul said. For me, writing remember a stranger helped me to process lots of difficult childhood memories. But growing up also means that I no longer feel the same way about some of those things, and growing up means making music gets harder and harder. We have more responsibilities now. I don’t know what it means if I lose this thing that helped me figure out so much of myself. We also watched each other grow up, and I don’t know what to do if we have to spend less time making music because life happens. But it’s an inevitability.
If This House Was Bigger was written and recorded during a winter in Iceland — how did the atmosphere and environment shape the sound and emotional core of the EP?
Els: We went to Iceland with only two songs pre-written — 'Aug 16' and 'Maybe in Another Dream'. We wrote 'Heavy is the Air' in Sundlaugin, which was inspired by the way we felt about the trip and each other. 'Later On' was also written in Sundlaugin, and the lyrics are kind of a Part II to 'Aug 16'. It’s very dreamy, and it blurs the line between reality and dream.
The emotional core of the EP is still very much rooted in Singapore, because that’s where we’re from. I guess being so far away from home, in a climate and environment that is so different from Singapore helped shape that. The vast expanse makes you feel very small (not in a bad way), and kind of homesick. Everything is very different, and you feel like you’re living a different life for two weeks. I think living together with each other and being with each other shaped the EP as much as the atmosphere and environment did. We were kind of stuck with each other too because you can’t just walk out of the Airbnb to a 7-11 or to take a bus. So we went everywhere together, and did pretty much everything together.
What was it like working in Sundlaugin Studios, a space so closely tied to Sigur Rós and the Icelandic music scene? Any stories from your time there?
Paul: It was really cool. We got to use their gear and their pedals. Nikulás, our engineer from Iceland, was great to work with. He showed us around and was the best to work with. Badrul left his engagement ring in Sundlaugin, and Kjartan (Sigur Rós’ keyboardist) found it. He asked us if it belonged to us, and then brought it on tour with him. When they played at the Esplanade two months after our Iceland trip, they brought the ring along and returned it to Badrul.
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motifs' music has always felt cinematic. If If This House Was Bigger were a film, what would its opening scene look like?
Paul: Spoiler alert! If This House Was Bigger is a documentary film about our time in Iceland. We premiered it at our Listening Party, so about 90 of our listeners got to watch the film together with us. It was a lovely time. The documentary will be released sometime in November.
Can you share a glimpse into what fans will see, and why that visual documentation was important to you?
You’ll get to see the dynamic of our band, as five individuals, and how that works when we come together. The documentary is a time capsule.
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Finally, you’re playing at the upcoming Sing60 Music Festival this December — a huge moment spotlighting six decades of Singapore music. What does being part of this milestone celebration mean to you as a band, and how are you approaching your set for it?
Paul: It’s crazy really, a great honour. I think if you have asked us a few years back, we wouldn’t have fathomed to be in this position. So we are incredibly grateful to have the opportunity to play this festival at Fort Canning Park — a place which holds so many special gig memories for some of us.
And to be on the same bill and day as The Great Spy Experiment is just the icing on the cake for me personally. Watching them back in 2015 was the turning point for me in terms of how I perceived the local music scene. We do have talent — plentiful of them on our sunny shores. So it’s a full circle moment of some sorts.
