Augie March "Asleep in Perfection" was a hint. The Best is yet to come from Melbourn's New folk troubadours
There were rumours that
the pressure of writing songs for Augie March's debut album, due
mid year, put singer Glenn Richards in the sick bay. That would
have been understandable. The quality of songs on last year's
Waltz EP, and those of their live set late in the year generated
a flurry of interest in the band. The prospective release for the
album came forward, the band was busy playing across Australia
supporting Something For Kate, and headlining as momentum from
the single "Asleep In Perfection" gathered behind them.
But while he's holed up in his hometown of Shepparton, escaping
Melbourne, eating well and resting his voice, Richards isn't
over- whelmed by the hype. Rather he's worried about the quality
of his art. "The only pressure is what I put on
myself," says the slight, eloquent singer/songwriter.
"I was constantly worried that because we were playing so
much and not being able to do anything new we'd lose track of
where we began again... I just lost my voice and worried that I
was losing track of any kind of vision.
Thankfully the muse is back, and there are 17 new songs in the works, all of which will be considered for the album Sunset Studies (a working title "because the album's got a lot of end-of-the-day imagery about it," says Richards). Hoping to work with producer Paul Kimball of Grant Lee Buffalo, the band is gearing up to record what promises to be a great Australian debut.
"It's not going to be a simple album but it's certainly very folk-based," says Richards. "I'm still writing strange songs, maybe stranger than anything pre- viols but they're simple at the same time, their melodic quotient is larger." Fans will know what Richards means - both by calling his music strange, and by suggesting that it's melodically driven. The Waltz EP suggested a new diversity and tastefulness to the band's work, while under the produc- tion of ex-Boom Crash Opera guitarist Richard Pleasance, the songs stand as simple and elegant compositions. Around them the arrangements bring in wayward chords and introduce strildng instrumentation - from the stmmmed simplicity of "Mothballs" to the low-set buzz of "Rich Girl." Performances tend to be emotionally fraught affairs. The band (completed by drummer David Williams, bassist Edmond Ammendola, and guitarist Adam Donovan) certainly walks a tightrope, as songs and even entire sets dissolve into shambles on the wrong night. With influences ranging from Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave to trad folk and fine poetry the songs are also willful and sometimes collapsible constructions. They're as ephemeral as their contents, which draw from Richard's long term interest in poetry (before music poetry was his outlet, and he's just starting to introduce what he learned there to his lyrics).
"I can only give you a fairly wanky overview of what I think the album will end up as," he says. "It's shaping up as a kind of spiritual, sort of folk album. I don't mean highly religious or anything, but there's quite a lot of natural imagery in it, and the biblical metaphor of tending the garden. Working the garden is good work and spiritual work."
It's an opposite ethic to the obvious radio driven pop rock and single hook simplicity behind modern Rock. And that's what's drawing the fans in, a sense of commitment and art amidst the craft that's rare in the current dimes. Add to that an idiosyncratic musical vision, and you have Augie March, a band which still sees songwriting as something sacred.
"Everybody's heard it a million times but for me songwriting is a version of that (spirituality), especially if it's honest songwriting," Richards explains. "I seem to be heading more towards a place where less and less I feel like I'm being dishonest in my songwriting."