The Times In Which You Lose Yourself
So I don’t know how many of you know this, but I went to a gig last year, a few months after establishing myself in Australia and it fucking blew me away. “Some chap” called Paul Kelly was perfoming that everyone else knew of old – he is in fact the stuff of Australian legend. But him, his music and his exceptionally cute Nephew were all new to little old English me who at a similar time, also had to come to grips with Khe Sanh being the stuff of musical Australian National Pride…
I came home that night, (from my favourite venue in W.A thus far) and listened to album after album; twenty years [plus] of pure, divine Kelly gold. I tasted the sweetness of his melodies, the vividness of his imagery, I learned a little and I felt a lot. I was totally lost in this guy’s music for weeks; upon each listen, hearing new nuances to his voice, realising the frequent poignancy of his references. Mainstream as his general audience may be, this guy is anything but…he is in fact extraordinary. And so he brought me back to music with a new hunger, a renewed want for brilliance and an appetite to devour as much Aussie music as possible. And so I did (and do). I gorge myself on live performance after live performance, I buy albums, I borrow albums, I constantly, nerdily listen to music online which has every promise to be released soon – but isn’t yet, with the fervour of an expectant mother willing her new child into the world. I obsessively dissect and analyse and enjoy every moment, until I feel my brain might explode with the exquisite pleasure of the moment. Needless to say, that I don’t fail to get goosebumps at the beginning of each and every gig, with the scope for possibility and promise of a New Love.
Paul Kelly in his younger days, his music standing the test of time (whilst skinny leg black jeans come full circle):
And you know, I don’t write reviews because that’s too much like work, right? I am all about not having a Real Job. But I have seen and heard such excellence over the past few months, it would be wrong not to talk about the musicians that are rocking my world recently (and those that aren’t). So I will post some of the fodder here alongside the articles going to press elsewhere…Besides, how long could I write this blog purely as some warped therapy of my own, all about mememe and hope that you’d keep reading?! (Thanks though [for continuing to read], I love you all for it!).
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