The Falls - Home

This is The Falls, by the way. Not The Fall. You're not going to hear a drunk northern English mentalist/genius ranting in the above clip. Rather you'll hear beautiful folk from a Sydney duo that met, fell in love, wrote songs, fought, made up, broke up and wrote songs.

At a time when for most it would be the end of a relationship, for Sydney outfit The Falls this feels like just the beginning… The first single Home, is a bitter sweet tale of escapism and the search for clarity, and the final realisation that no matter how hard you try and avoid life’s difficulties, in the end you must deal with them. The Falls have documented their whole relationship in their songs. The love, the betrayal, the heartbreak. While at times it is hard for them to wear their hearts so openly on their sleeve, for The Falls, it has been a huge part of their songwriting. In the fallout from Valentines Day, The Falls decided that rather than wallowing in self-pity they would put their heartbreak to tape. So they pulled out their little tascam 4-track portastudio, which, with all its tape wobbles and noise, aptly captured the fragility of their hearts. These fledgling recordings were just the beginning of what has become their debut EP (released July 2012), from which this single is taken.

Georgia Fair - All Through Winter

We got such amazing feedback from Heidi Pett's beautifully written debut review last week that we couldn't wait to feature her words again. Here, she gives her thoughts on Georgia Fair's first long-player:

Despite its name, All Through Winter seems destined to be something of a summer soundtrack. A warm breeze, gauzy curtains blowing through an open window and the folk-pop of Sydney’s Jordan Wilson and Ben Riley sit together almost as naturally as their vocal harmonies. Almost, because they’re pretty tight. It’s clear the duo have spent a great deal of time making music together and this ease is evident on their debut album, which is full of the unaffected and enjoyable songs we have come to expect from previous releases.

It’s music that feels familiar, partly due to the inclusion and reworking of songs such as opener Times Fly and Simple Man, which have featured on previous EPs, and partly due to the familiarly pleasant combination of two-part harmonies and acoustic guitar. The album requires a second listen in order to differentiate and appreciate individual songs. The addition of rolling drums on a number of tracks including Blind, which builds to a climactic chorus, and the jaunty Remember Me provide depth to a record which may perhaps be pigeonholed as roadtrip fodder but, to be entirely honest, music doesn’t always have to challenge you. It’s perfectly alright to sit back and thoroughly enjoy this gentle album of at times wistful, at times unabashedly joyful but always skillful songwriting. Put it on when you get home with salty eyelashes and the light sting of sunburn on your limbs and let the recurring themes of nostalgia and the passage of time tie together an album which feels like home.

Radio-friendly single Where You Been? is an upbeat, summery song which characterises their debut in more ways than one - the closing refrain is a reminder that, yes, the best is yet to come for Georgia Fair, if they continue to write to their strengths: sweet and clever songs based on beautiful male harmonies which go together like, well, summer and acoustic folk pop. Which is to say, perfectly.

Review by Heidi Pett. She tweets here and you can read her own blog here.

Caitlin Park - Milk Annual

Heidi Pett lets us know what she thought of Caitlin Park's debut album:

I must confess that while sampling sounds of unusual provenance makes for an interesting press interview/snippet of information to be bandied about, I often find the technique clunky and frankly irritating. Not so with Caitlin Park. In Milk Annual, she's crafted a beautiful album full of delicate, thoughtful songs that, despite very professional production, feels entirely handmade.

At this point I could go for a long winded metaphor involving a patchwork quilt of found sounds carefully stitched together with a thread of folksy guitar and gentle vocals, ironed and laid out through production by Liam Judson of Belles Will Ring. But I won’t, because that may seem trite, unnecessary and pretentious, all of which sits uncomfortably with the pared-back simplicity of tracks such as With No Strength To Defend, Be A Ghost or the hand claps, unashamedly catchy hooks and pop sensibilities to be found on single Baby Teeth.

The way she plays guitar makes you think you can see it. You’re intensely aware of her fingers, the process of it, particularly on opener How’s Your Wife? where audible fret noises ground her sampling and use of electronic sounds in an earthier folk tradition. The range of sounds she employs demonstrates not only a curiosity into the nature of language best seen on the Tic Tac Language Song, but also her ambition and ingenuity in the use of the sounds of a match striking in the similarly experimental Match. Wrist. Bird.

Ordinarily I would baulk at the term ‘experimental’ as too often it’s lazy shorthand for ‘people on drugs with a bunch of whistles, old gameboys and access to garage band’ but it’s clear that, after months of collecting such diverse samples, she has indeed experimented with them before carefully layering them with her gentle vocals and accomplished songwriting to piece together a very considered album. You can read her track by track explanation here, if you’d like to know more about her ideas and methodology.

Comprised of songs which are breathtakingly intricate yet remain accessible and, above all, enjoyable, Milk Annual is best listened to accompanied by the smell of grass with sun on the back of your neck.

Review by Heidi Pett. 

Caitlin Park interview

“One of my favourite things to do is to play to a crowd, find one person who is not listening and try my hardest to get them to notice.”

It's a plan that seems to be working well for Caitlin Park. Her intelligent, looped brand of folk with electronic edges is captivating audiences across Sydney and she was recently a finalist in FBi Radio's Northern Lights competition. It's surprising then, considering her talent and growing reputation, that this isn't a path she has always desired to tread...

READ THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE...