STACK #149 Mar 2017

MUSIC NEWS

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long shot because he’s off doing openings in London.” Oscar’s friendship with artist James Drinkwater began back when the former was living in Newcastle. Dawson wrote a long email explaining the cover art idea,

HOLY HOLY INTERVIEW S ometimes a body of artistic work will inform its title: the artist will do their thing, then look at what they’ve created and choose an appropriate name to baptise it. More unusually it’s the other way around, which is how guitarist Oscar Dawson describes Holy Holy’s second full-length release. “It was Tim’s idea to call it Paint ,” Dawson says. “He had that idea completely independently of having a collaboration with any artist whatsoever. [The title] affected the way that we wrote and recorded, too. It was this ping pong match between us and the title; the title would kind of communicate back with us.” Pretty soon, the fascinating Painting With PAINT project was conceived. "We were trying all these [cover art] ideas out, and then I suggested, ‘Why don’t we speak to James Drinkwater?’ I thought it was a

and Drinkwater promptly "replied with one line: ‘Yes. Great. Love to do it.’" Then came its rapid expansion, via Drinkwater himself. “The idea was to get four different artists, [James] included, and have each of them paint a piece based on one of the songs of the record. Four songs, four artists. And they do it in the moment."

yourself heard. It’s like speaking – I think it’s important not to mumble when you speak. That’s not to say you can’t put heaps of effects on [your instruments] and make it sort of washy at times, but I think you have to pick and choose when you do those things. On this record I really wanted not to use as much washiness, and I think that means you have to know what you’re saying. When people mumble, it’s like they do it ‘cause they don’t know what they’re trying to say. Actually stop and think and decide what you want to say – it’s more economical, you know. You don’t have to say as much to [get out] what you want to say. I was always really bad at being succinct when speaking. I probably still am, as you can see by how much I’ve crapped on here. Maybe I should try to use this as a learning experience.”

right-arm slug to apply the paint. What about the music? Well, Paint is beautiful – exultant

Paint by Holy Holy is out now via Sony.

guitar lines that fall into tiny patterns around Tim Carroll's vocal melodies, powerfully cinematic synths, and lyrics both sage and curious – but its main success is a solidification of ideas, its precision. Oscar says even the title was a reaction to the band’s first album, When The Storms Would Come . “It had this slightly more ambiguous, soft title – I guess we wanted to try and be more bold and a bit less sentimental,” he says. That comes through in Dawson’s particular approach to guitar, for which he comes up with an excellent analogy. “I think it’s really important to be able to be clear. It’s important to be able to make

All filmed in Drinkwater’s studio ("it's a shed in his backyard – it’s a lovely spot in Newcastle") by Charlie Ford, the artists involved are Charlie Horder (painting to Shadow with bleeding watercolour and Indian ink), Ben Kenning (painting to Send My Regards with his intricate patterns of black and white acrylics), and Lottie Consalvo (painting to WillowTree with bold strokes of acrylic and her own earthy, mixed powder pigments). Drinkwater chose to paint to That Message , with bright acrylics, aerosol, charcoal, conte and mixed media, and often using a palette knife, his fingers or a pretty vicious

ALL OUR EXES LIVE IN TEXAS

that’s always the hardest thing – making everyone feel heard and happy.” They certainly look happy. Take a gander at the video for Tell Me , one of the funniest clips we've seen in donkey's, in which the girls are lined up in a soccer match against their fictional (and famous) exes. The video for single I Took The Devil’s Part , by contrast, is absolutely dreamy; it’s a reflection of the otherworldly harmonies these women are capable of. Writing is an “incredibly diplomatic” experience. "Everyone in the group, on the album, has three songs each. There really isn’t any arguing. I know that sounds like it must be bullsh-t, but it really isn’t.” The primary take away here is that Stone and her compatriots enjoy discovering things about one another – “you learn the things that make them tick musically, and that andvances your musicianship” – but she asserts that as soon as musicians put themselves under too much pressure, the fruit dies on the vine. “There were no egos to begin with because of the way the band started – it was a fun project and it wasn’t intended to go this far,” Stone says. “It’s really always been about the friendships, they’re the most important thing. And if everything else goes well, then that’s great.”

I t’s really hard not to want to start a band with your best girlfriends after seeing All Our Exes Live In Texas. The four women of this fierce folk act were indeed friends before the band’s formation; just one month prior to an all-star show to celebrate the music of the film O Brother Where Art Thou , Elana Stone, Hannah Crofts, Katie Wighton and Georgia Mooney were each pursuing solo careers, but

decided to pick up new instruments and put a group together. Elana Stone grabbed the accordion. “Hannah calls it ‘The Devil’s Backpack’, but it’s actually like a frontpack,” she says. “It’s annoying to carry and lug, but once it’s on you, it’s pretty ergonomic. Look, I’m anticipating some serious back problems when I get older. But it’s a beautiful and fun instrument to play." After that first show, suddenly the women were booking more gigs together than as solo performers, and they began writing songs. How does that work with four lead

INTERVIEW

When We Fall by All Our Exes Live In Texas is out March 3 via ABC/Universal.

singers? Stupidly smoothly, it turns out. “It’s a pleasure because it’s such an easy band to work for,” Stone says. “It’s so much easier working within a team of ambitious ladies rather than working for yourself and going, ‘I’m great. Listen to me.’ There’s a huge amount of respect in the room with the four of us,” she continues. “I think everyone recognises that everyone has a lot of talent and is very intelligent. In most other bands that I’ve been in,

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MARCH 2017

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