STACK #142 Aug 2016

MUSIC NEWS

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INTERVIEW

MONTAIGNE J ess Cerro (AKA Montaigne) is a spunky, sparkly chick with lots of feelings about music, but she gets especially verbally nimble (read: pumped) when she discusses one particular influence: Owen Pallet. “Every time I say ‘I’m really into Owen Pallett, I’d really like to work with him one day,’ and no one knows what I’m talking about, I'm like 'You have to know!'” she laughs. When listening to Cerro’s debut Glorious Heights , the links between her own shrewd and rather poetic vision and Pallett’s cinematic, electronically detailed approach are clear. “First off, I really like his influence by video games, and how that makes for an epic and quite unusual lyric; I also like his chops as a string player,” she says. “The songs are all really dark and creepy, that quite weird orchestral thing… I Am Not Afraid , which is the first song on [Pallett's 2014 album In Conflict ], I can listen to for days and days. It sounds so ultimate. It’s like you’re at the end of your life and this is the sound of it – the way that things will come to a head and complete themselves.” That’s not to say Glorious Heights is morose; it’s definitely curious, with odd vocal harmonies on In The Dark and fat smears

never deliberately pretty even though it’s beautiful. “I think it’s just stemming from who I am inside,” says Cerro. “I’m not a particularly pretty person, and the music I’m into can be quite dirty and scary. Bjork has a vulnerability to her that may be considered feminine, but she’s also very vicious.” It’s part of the propulsion which keeps Cerro's internal cogs going – something she sees as a state you can (and should) choose. “Optimism, in clinical terms, it’s just being able to see the positive side in everything,” she explains. “I suppose resilience is more what I [want to embody]. You can do it and you must do it. If that opportunity doesn’t work out then move on to

of brass on Greater Than Me , but those sit alongside unapologetic slaps of colour, mountainous synths, bright, joyous piano triads and the kind of vocal chutzpah she displayed in the track that brought her to the attention of the nation: Hilltop Hoods' 1955. All of those come together to give the effect of unabashed energy, which is

another thing; keep your family and friends close around you and just be a nice person.”

MUSIC

Glorious Heights by Montaigne is out August 5 via Sony.

THE LOST SONGS OF ST KILDA

WHAT'S THE STORY? We have a look back at the fascinating tales behind some of our favourite album covers. This month: Rooty, Basement Jaxx (2001)

T he frankly astonishing story of St Kilda's lost songs has nothing to do with getting trolleyed in the Gershwin Room. St Kilda is an island off the west coast of Scotland – freezing, beautiful, isolated – and was evacuated in 1930, as the population dwindled; in the end, it was only 36 people who tearfully accepted the boat ride away from their home. The traditional songs of the island were presumed forgotten but recently resurfaced via the memory of an elderly pianist. These piano- driven instrumentals are haunting, melancholic and completely amazing.

T wo years before their Grammy Award-winning album Kish Kash , Basement Jaxx were about to break big with Rooty – its lead single was indubitable banger Where’s Your Head At? . The group decided to communicate their unique and powerful vibe with cover art featuring Snowflake, the only known albino gorilla. Snowflake was a wild-born West lowland gorilla who’d been captured in Equatorial Guinea in

The Lost

Songs of St Kilda is out August 12 via ABC/ UMA.

the '60s, when he was just a baby. He had many of the traits of albinism typically seen in humans, including white hair, pink skin, poor eyesight and discomfort in bright light. Just as Rooty was released, Barcelona Zoo announced that Snowflake had been diagnosed with a very rare skin cancer related to his albinism. He passed away in November 2003, having fathered 22 offspring – none albino, but all recessive carriers of the gene.

AUGUST 2016

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