The year 2000 will be recalled with wonder by Australians for years to come; a new millennium; a world-renowned sporting event; a new taxation system. But if, back in '98, your attention was captured by a young band from Melbourne called Augie March and their debut EP Thanks for the Memes, chances are that you're going to look back on 2000 as the year that the band finally came to release their debut lp Sunset Studies. Perhaps your devotion was cemented at a later stage. Perhaps it was their '99 ep Waltze (sic) that sucked you in and spat you out, a complete Augie March addict. It was a remarkable difference that separated 'Memes and Waltze (sic); where the band's first ep was raw and unrestrained, Waltz was more polished, a fact that was acknowledged at the recent Aria awards. Nominated for both 'Producer of the Year' (Augie March/Richard Pleasance) and 'Record of the Year', the band found themselves to be the token quality, self-made, original act among a sea of major label beat-ups. They lost.
"Even though we didn't win," says the bands singer/songwriter/guitarist and at times seemingly reluctant front man Glenn Richards, "each of us can say we're ARIA nominated producers, which is sort of something?"
"We can tell the kids," interrupts drummer David Williams.
"Well, we might get some work out of it," finishes Glenn.
That nomination was for a work produced last year. This year has seen Augie March (completed by Edmond Ammendola on bass and Adam Donovan on guitar) get to work on recording their first full-length album. Entirely self-produced, with some assistance from Paul McKercher and Richard Pleasance, Sunset Studies is an inspired and incredibly ambitious work. Or more appropriately, epic.
At almost 78 minutes, the album is longer in duration that what is allowed by standard CDs. Faced with the prospect of having to cut a track from the album, the preservation of the full recording was allowed by last minute developments in audio technology.
"We ended up using the same type of CD that the Olympics album was done on," says Dave.
Recorded in nine different studios over a six-month period (although the majority of the tracks were in fact laid down over a two-week time frame), the album is rich in sound. Layers of instrumentation including horns, Piano and Organ, Violin, Clarinet and Dobro support the band's traditional two guitars, bass and drum line up, helping to fill out their sound. It's a mixed bag; the band's direction from here is difficult to predict. Songs like the single from earlier this year The Hole in Your Roof and the album's title track meander along, allowing Augie March to experiment with less-obvious arrangements. The present single Heartbeat and Sails and their adaptation of the sixteenth century ballad 'The House Carpenter' (Men Who Follow Spring the Planet 'Round) possess 'ye olde worlde' feel, the former shanty-esque in nature, the latter a love song from the sea.
Alongside them are dynamic masterpieces such as Here Comes the Night, The Good Gardener and the album's closer Owen's Lament. Each of them build in their intensity rather than meander. Glenn Richards' vocals are passionate and sincere; the band peaking in both tempo and volume just as you find yourself catching your breath and thinking your chest may explode with emotional overload. It's all too good.
From the outset Glenn proves himself the songwriting talent that many have long suspected him to be. His long time love affair with literature has manifested itself in lyrics exceptional in metre and meaning. On Tulip he matches sorrow with hope in a fantasy-like setting, his inspiration stemming directly from a dream. On The Offer, his motivation is more pedestrian, although it is portrayed in a no less charming manner.
"I was writing another song at the time and I was thinking I wanted a song that jangled, that moved," says Glenn. "I was writing a song like that but I didn't like it much and I was getting depressed about it - half way through that process I started writing The Offer. I was shitty at my dad because I was trying to write this song and he asked me 'Can you prune the rose bushes today?'" I can't handle distractions, but I got out there and I had a great time pruning the rose bushes.
"It was exactly what I needed to do. You know the last part of the song 'it rained all night'? Mum was singing that in the kitchen and I asked her what it was and she said 'just an old song that I used to sing to you when you were a baby'. And I kind of put the two together. But the first verse is literally 'this song was born out of another one, and I don't know why I'm writing it, or why it's happened'. It was like a little 'stop feeling sorry for yourself'."
It's a different approach for Richards, who in the past has been known for creating touching narratives, more often than not romantic and tender in nature.
"I'm very much into the idea of myth-making; a culture generates its myths and the myths then become the culture. That's what (twentieth century Argentinean author and poet Jorge Luis) Borges was all about; imagining a life," says Glenn.
Recorded at Melbourne's ABC Studios only "a couple of months ago", both The Offer and There is No Such Place were late additions to the album. The success that the band had in recording the two tracks bodes well for future efforts.
"We did those two so quickly and they were a pleasure to do," says Glenn.
"They were ready to be done," adds Dave, "and that's the way we're going to do it from now on. When our songs are ready."
For now the band is sitting on one of the most exceptional debut albums ever recorded. But modesty and a small case of myopia prevent them from agreeing outright. 'I am not written in the book but I intend to last...' sings Glenn Richards in Tulip. This is just the first page for Augie March.