Edward Deer - The Sandringham Hotel

My FasterLouder review - (15/09/10)

Sydney-based singer-songwriter, Edward Deer, kicked off his three week residency at The Sandringham Hotel with a mammoth set. His performance was more than just one man and his guitar.

Three-piece Sydney act, Cogel, warmed up the cold September evening with their luscious indie-rock tunes. Grow let loose an enchanted bass line that reverberated through to the heart of the audience, whilst the up-tempo number Aquarium saw two band members take to the drum kit to create a rhythmic climax. Rocks on the Sun allowed frontman Nic Cogels to bring a refreshing wave of vocals, in its most purest form.

Ole Sport brought with them an unusual combination of instruments intriguing the audience. Paperface featured a Tibetan bowl and erratic guitar finger-picking woven around a time signature of 17/8 which was challenging to follow and keep in time with. Holding on to the loose bounds of the rhythmic complexities they kept the audience at the edge of their seat and in awe.

It was time for the lovely Edward Deer, who connected with his audience emotionally and lyrically from beginning to end. Introducing his set with Maree, he gradually unveiled layer upon layer and formed a rich tapestry of sound. His superior looping skills amplified his sound and presence on stage. It was an uplifting introduction.

The 25-year-old artist then delved into deeper musical narratives. The Drifter and Someone’s Watching enticed listeners with its therapeutic words. Playing both songs simply on acoustic guitar, he allowed audiences to peak into the window of intimacy he had created on stage. Both songs also emphasised his vocal range with his strong projection into the higher registers down to the whisperings of the low, setting the mood and keeping the audience captivated.

Spicing up his set a little, he went on to deliver a solo take on Talking Heads’ This Must be the Place. Flowing in and out of guitar loopings, he gave the song a little bit of Edward Deer and performed it with great confidence. Inviting a fellow band member onto the stage, the duo entered into the gentle harmonies of Pickpockets, only to invite a third member and shift into more up-tempo folk-rock numbers such as With Ease and Tie Up the Birds.

The night concluded with the emotive A Song About Monsters. A perfect choice to finish on, and the highlight of the evening. The looping crescendo allowed the song to harmoniously reign, enlightening everyone in the room.

Edward Deer delivered each song with a fiery confidence and enjoyment, which naturally seeped into the audience and reflected back.

The Cat Empire

FasterLouder Feature Article - 01/09/10

Known as Australia’s very own ‘party’ band, The Cat Empire has unleashed their Australian tour following the release of their fifth studio album Cinema.

Front-man and trumpeter Harry James Angus caught up with FasterLouder to tell all about the eBay-Cinema debacle (was it really the record company that leaked the album?), their undefined position in the Australian music scene and revealed a new Jackson Jackson album is on its way.

You guys definitely thrive as a live band, do you have any sort of prep-up ritual to hype yourselves up before you jump out on stage?
Different people in the band do, like Felix the singer always listens to something on his headphones, he’s got like kind of pump up music he listens to before the gig. And you know some of the other guys have got their routines. But I like to just distract myself right up until the moment I have to walk on stage so it’s almost like a surprise that I’m going out on stage and that I haven’t had time to think about it. I think it’s a really good head space to be in when you’re there and you’ve just got to react.

Last night in Sydney was really good! There were heaps of people there, big place that Hordern Pavillion. The crowd were awesome like I don’t think we’ve ever done an all ages show before in Sydney so it was good to see all the kids up the front going mental. Yeah, I had a ball, but I always do.

And so as a band you have performed, correct me if I am wrong, but up to 800 live shows, or have you passed the 800 mark?
I don’t think we’ve past it yet, but it’s coming up really soon though, like in the next month we will have done 800 shows.

That is an incredible amount of shows, where do you guys get all the energy from? And how do you hold onto all that energy?
I ask myself the same question sometimes. I’ve got such a sore back this morning [laughs]. I don’t know, I think we’re lucky in the sense [that] the kind of music that we play, it kind of involves a lot of variation, a lot of improvisation and a lot of room for song change and growth. And it’s different every night. So I guess we never get to that point where you’re just going through the motions on stage…we’re not that kind of band that just construct the show and stick to it and that’s our job. We change it every night, and so it’s exciting for us and I guess it is exciting for the audience I think they pick up on that as well, that we’re doing things that we’re not quite sure where it’s going.

And so with the new album, how did you guys come up with the title name Cinema?
Cinema. Well, it’s just what we want to evoke I guess. Like when you listen to the music, it’s nice to think that you might see some kind of movie in your head. The music is expressive, it changes themes, goes through different moods. We’ve got a lot of different instruments and a lot of different kind of sounds in our band, and I guess we want to explore them all. And that kind of went into a cinematic kind of approach.

You also seem to have a lot more darker lyrics this time round? How did you find that sense of darkness?
I think with song-writing, it’s not like you say “Oh I’m gonna write a darker song” and then you get about trying to work out how to do it. I think you try to write a song and it turns out to be darker. It’s probably because we’re older and we’re kind of maybe more mature, I hope. And stuff that we just have to write about. It’s just whatever’s in your head really, that’s what you write about.

You definitely seem to have a crazy fan base, what was your reaction when a fan offered $200 for an advanced copy of the album on e-bay prior to its release date?
My first reaction was you know, I was very flattered. Obviously. And my second reaction was that I thought it was probably our own record company who had leaked it as a way of promoting the record. Because all of a sudden, all these journalists started asking us about it but…um actually, I’m sitting next to someone from the record company right now and she’s shaking her head. She’s like “No way, it wasn’t us.” So yeah I don’t know.

But I actually met the guy who bought that and he was a really nice guy. He is like a super fan, he runs a Cat Empire unofficial fan site in America, and it couldn’t have gone to a more loyal fan basically. I think he earned it.

It’s been about three years since the last album, including the year in hiatus, was this album like a reunion for the band?
Yes it was in a way. You know, we had reached a point sometime after that last record where after years of touring and playing together, we were maybe ready for a change, or a break and we were feeling pretty jaded about things.

And yeah we took some time off, then we talked about writing a record together and this record is really a document of us kind of coming together, learning to enjoy making music together again and kind of try to come up with fresh concepts. When I listen to the album I have lots of good memories about it.

And so you also took some time away, which was around the same time you began working on your side project Jackson Jackson. How did that change the dynamic of the band?
I think it’s been really good for the band. I think the main thing…is just that it being part of helping me to get my head straight and enjoy being a performer and you know, not get too caught up in my ego and things like that. And so I was able to come back to the band a much more happy, healthy well adjusted individual.

Will we see any new projects in the near future for Jackson Jackson?
Yeah I mean, we’re pretty lazy. Like we’re not exactly the most timetable-y of people. But we are about half-way through a new record and who knows when we’ll finish it. One day, when we’ve got time basically.

And will it go by the same style of the previous record?
Maybe not. It’s not finished yet so it’s hard to say. But I mean, like our whole thing is to do something that is not the same as anything else. So it probably won’t be the same as our last record either.

Do you see yourself leaking Jackson Jackson influences into the sound of Cat Empire, and vice versa?
I like to be as spontaneous as possible and so both Jackson Jackson and The Cat Empire are the result of collaborating with the people who are in those projects…I think I prefer the spontaneous approach. I don’t know why, I just like the challenge of kind of relying on your wit. Like not having planned too much and being forced to just kind of be creative on the spot…So I don’t think I was bringing things in to either project except just myself.

Veering back to Cat Empire, some critics have said that as a band you are stuck in between the mainstream and alternative worlds of music. Where do you think you fit in the Australian music scene?
Yeah, I would totally agree with that. That’s where we want to be. We’re a bunch of jazz musicians who get played on the radio and write pop-y songs. People come to our shows and they see 20 minute discordant keyboard solos and a bass-y throb jam. And I love that aspect of the band. Maybe sometimes some people come to see us play and they hear things that they haven’t heard before and maybe they hear things that are a bit challenging for them.

But you know, I think in a musical landscape where so much music is kind of pre-packaged and measured out to be entertaining but safe and not too confronting for anyone, I think that’s a really good place to be in.

How do you feel about the fact that jazz isn’t such a mainstream genre in Australia, what do you think needs to be done to bring it out there a bit more?
It’s really hard to say. I think music is a product of culture…And I think that jazz in a way had its time and its place in the history of the 20th Century and it was a massive part of that. But I think that the idea of jazz has become really a massive cliché and that people should really learn that there can be a difference between jazz and between big, exciting, spontaneity of improvising in music. And I think there are a lot of possibilities for musicians to learn to improvise in ways that are really powerful. And I guess more relevant to culture as we live in it now.