*the following interview can also be read at theorangepress.net

in a much less crowded space than 20 minutes prior, uk artist cosmo jarvis kindly sat down for a chat after his intimate show at the newsagency. We spoke about his new album ‘think bigger‘ (2012), his video clips as well as his upcoming feature film the naughty room‘ and it’s influence.

 

awesome tonight!

thank you very much.

how did you think it went?

average.

the crowd was really forgiving I thought, with your tuning issues. it’s the venue to kind of have that problem…

i suppose.

did you like this venue?

yeah! it’s fuckin’ really cool hey. there’s going to be good shit happening here…

i missed your last show in sydney at goodgod small club…i only found out about it at like 11 o’clock the night of…

bummer, well there’ll be more in december, with the band.

do you prefer playing with your band?

yeah, a lot. a lot of the tunes on the album i can play acoustically, and it works fine ‘cause they derived from that originally. but others, you know, require moshpits - and you can’t really do that here. like sunshine, which I played tonight.

that’s one of my favourites from the album!

yeah, same here. i like playing it live.

what i get from it is that it’s about those days where you don’t want to be happy and that’s ok?

yeah, pretty much.

i love that.

and it’s when you meet people who can be happy for no reason. but i think it might be because – i’m not trying to be negative about them – but because they have less dimensions emotionally, and things are just ‘ok’ for them. but if things are shit, than you can do more shit with it, than if things were just good all the time.

well it would be a bit boring as well.

it would be very boring.

and love this of course is really cool. the video is hilarious! you directed it as well?

yeah, it was all just the guys i live with. we got together and choreographed, practiced it a few times and got it done.

it has that great one shot. which take was ‘the’ take? 

it was the 22^nd…but gay pirates was probably harder to do, ‘cause there were more people and stuff…but love this was harder because the camera was moving.

skateboard track?

it was actually a ford car. i tapped my tripod to the top and rosie, a girl i live with, who weighs like, not a lot, went on my mates roof so it didn’t dent. she manned the tripod.

so all the tracks on this album you recorded yourself? like on your previous two?

yeah…well, actually that’s bollocks. no, it’s not bollocks, i did. i recorded it all and produced it in my bedroom. the only elements that weren’t were the drums on a few - i don’t have enough microphones! and on train downtown and tell me who to be the strings were recorded somewhere else…but that’s it. everything else is just me.

do you think that you’d like to go and work in a studio?

on the next album I’m going to…cause i’ve got a lot more heavier shit i want to put on it…I’ve written a few hardcore songs and i really want to do them with my band. and i’ve done three albums now on my own…

so you think you’d be happy to hand the reigns over to someone?

i’d need an engineer in the studio, but i’d still mix and produce myself, ‘cause it’s the only way i know really…and loads of bands just get with a producer just cause of the incredible vouching power having a producer could have…but i wouldn’t want to do that. at all.

i love your ‘do everything on your own’ approach - it’s inspiring!

well, it’s just, i’ve got no friends, so you know…

well no, that’s contrary to what i hear about your film ‘the naughty room‘ and who you had to ask favours from?

yeah, my mates. but yeah, working with non-actors and just guys that just want to be involved with the film seem to take risks on it professionals and theatre students wouldn’t take. which is great, ‘cause it means i save loads of money and we all have a great time doing it. 

and you did it all with a tiny, tiny budget?

it was 8 grand to make the movie.

i’ve seen the few trailers online - it looks really interesting! do you know when it will be released here?

we’re going to try and go to abc to see if they’ll show it, but it will definitely be on dvds that will be out in australia. and the bbc are showing it in late august so that might help other territories take it seriously.

do you feel you can direct and everything as best you can as well as act in it? do you find that you’re quite critical still of yourself in the process?

yeah well for ‘the naughty room’, i wasn’t just acting and directing, i was doing the sound recording and boom operating and making sure everything was ok. and because there weren’t many of us, i said to the camera operator and to my little brother fletcher (who was production designer and 19 at the time) to tell me what they’d like to see out of me. we’d do one my way and then a couple the ways that they thought. so when i cut it i’d just get the best of everything. well i hope i did.

well, from the little snippets i’ve seen it looks like you have…it’s really exciting.

thanks!

so what can we expect from the film? are we going to be as challenged as we are sometimes from your music?

there’s never been a film like it, which is good, and there are definitely worse films which have been made for more money. you’ll never see anything like it…it’s a black comedy, it’s funny, it’s touching on some quite dark shit quite a lot of the way through. a lot of movies nowadays are doing dark shit and it’s very over dramatic and very contrived. with this, we tried to think about how we might react if something like a kid being locked in a bathroom by his mother for sixteen years was to happen. you wouldn’t suddenly be kicking to hero mode: “oh my god, i’m going to call the police”. there are other emotional, moral conflicts that you might go through first. and the music has a lot to do with telling the story as well. i wrote the soundtrack as well.

what inspired you for the film?

the whole purpose of it really was to kind of expand on the question of where you can draw your examples from growing up as to how to live your life…and how your friends sometimes can give you more accurate and better information than your parents can. ‘cause your parents are tainted by who they think they are status-wise to you. they know they have to power to mould, but in actual fact they are as flawed as they reprimand you for being. and when i was a kid growing up i learnt to choose pretty early on who i’d would take shit off and who i would be influenced by, if i felt like they deserved or qualified to teach me a life lesson.

but it will be funny?

yeah! but it’s funny!

‘think bigger’ (2012) is available now through itunes, and keep your eyes peeled later this year for cosmo jarvis‘ first feature film ‘the naughty room’.

*the following review can also be read at musicfeeds.com.au 

photograph by ed watson for musicfeeds. check more out here.

it had been one of those gorgeous sydney days where the clouds were few and the sun wintery warm. and when i heard of the dreaded hail that was pelting down on byron bay, for once i wasn’t quite so jealous.

i was completely excited that, for all the splendour sideshows around, I was heading to father john misty.

j. tillman, former drummer for seattle folk outfit fleet foxes, has released seven solo albums, but ‘fear fun’ is his first under the moniker father john misty, and has been on high rotation in my apartment since its release in may. and boy, is it causing a stir. after realising his depression and struggle with his compositional style (and armed with a stack of herbal help) tillman left his former self to inevitably find his true voice and that ‘something’ worth singing about.

the stage at oxford art factory was adorned with many an instrument and first to take to them was sydney band melodie nelson. fronted by lia tsamoglou, they comfortably dove straight into their opener, waiting.

full of dreamy, 60’s psychedelic sentiments, lia’s voice echoed as the keys and electric guitars kept up the momentum. but what was most striking was their use of cello, giving the sound a texture and depth I wasn’t expecting.

they floated through the rest of their set but what was most memorable was their last song, meditations on the sun. that tarantino-like whistle lingered long after they’d left the stage.

by the time brisbane six-piece mosman alder were setting up, the venue had all of a sudden filled out. weaving to the bar became a skill.

when they did begin it was the baritone voice of valdis valortze hit me straight away. with nick cave and the national tendencies, i was hooked. mixed in with that soaring violin, their live performance had a full sound and a synchronicity, even without their usual pianist.

raisin heart was one of their best, with driving military drums, choral build up and sudden sparse vocals. it was the considerate layering in all their songs that was so enchanting.

mosman alder will also be hitting up splendour for the second year running. they must be doing something right!

after placing bets on which track was to open, out rang funtimes in babylon. it was brilliant. and we’d just begun.

performing at splendour this sunday, his sideshow was completely engaging, partly to do with his cheeky stage banter between songs: thanking xanax for bringing him here before only son of the ladiesman, and claiming, “i’d appreciate it if you didn’t interrupt my hilarious jokes with cheers”.

but what kept the crowd’s eyes drawn to him (particularly the ladies…myself included, i won’t lie) was his captivating presence. and, yes, those swaggering dance moves. during this is sally hatchet he was a mixture of a drunk karaoke king owning a rendition of bohemian rhapsody and that lone guy dancing ‘till his heart’s content up the front…at once absurd, yet still strangely attractive. 

aside from his theatrical maneuvering about the stage, the sound of his band was incredible. full of the effortless guitar twang and layered hooks, it remained very true to the guts of the record. songs like nancy from now on and i’m writing a novel delighted the crowd to no end, and father john’s voice was rough but superb. that’s what i love about his music - those disparities that seamlessly work together: frank, dark and mysterious, but such fun.

after forgetting lyrics in now i’m learning to love the war and cheekily stating, “this pays for the flights”, the mood was evened out nicely with the earnest every man needs a companion. he had us all drawn in and we were happily riding with him.

to finish came those constant cymbals, crunching electric guitar and the unruly melisma vocal opening of hollywood forever cemetery signs. sung with a beer in hand (and stealing a quick drag of a cigarette before treading it to the stage), that mischievous, cool character of misty was there summed up. but it was the ending that grabbed me most: a heavy and intense rock out that felt like we were dragged even deeper into that mindset. my friend turned to me exclaiming, “it feels like someone just took advantage of me!”

as an encore, the band returned with teepees 1-12, but not before asking for a smooch from someone from the crowd…of course he did.

please return to our shores again soon, father john. you’ve preached to the masses and we wait in hope for your next sermon.

i was casually flicking through drum media one evening back in january, brushing up on my live music knowledge, then suddenly came to a huge, full page ad notifying me of death cab for cutie’s national tour.

excuse me, what? how had i missed that?! and the first show had sold out already? aww man… 

i immediately informed my brother we were going (he’s been a fan of the boys from washington for many, many years) and secured us tickets.

their show was at the enmore theatre. i really love that old venue. iconic. and great sound. what a combo. they had local sydney band dappled cities for their support. those guys are doing alright for themselves! 

we arrived only for the last few songs from dappled, yet they happened to include their tracks the night is young at heart and the price, which are both pushing a few years old now, but still very much goodies.

in true enmore-gig style, the crowd sat down on the ageing floor between the acts. my brother took this opportunity to head to the bar to grab us new drinks, as we decided our heineken in a can was an unfortunate first choice. and in his true iphone-happy-style, he texted me the options.

just as he returned, death cab came out. and they began with one of my favourite songs a lack of color.so good. they drew the crown in from get go. their second song was another of my favs, i will possess your heart which filled the theatre with their gorgeous indie sound. and the dipping floor underneath us was embodying. always a great accompaniment to gigs at the enmore. 

they are obviously a very well rehearsed band. so tight. but it was great to see that they seemed to be enjoying every minute of their set as much as well did. without a lot of stage banter, but with over ten years worth of playing and seven albums to stand on, it really was the music that the diverse fans were there for. and the band knew it, and delivered. 

a highlight of the night was the beautiful moment when the whole audience sang along to i will follow you into the dark. ben gibbard quietly played this track on his own, well, without the rest of the band…but with the whole singing audience. everyone knew all of the words. it was truly moving to be a part of. and such a sombre, insightful love song. 

you are a tourist was the first single released from their latest album codes and keys. check out the film clip if you havne’t already. it was recorded with multiple camera, but in one take and with no edits. and was streamed live. so a pretty large feat all in all. apparently this was the first time this had ever been done, and so it is definitely worth a watch.

i loved the song on the night, but it was strange. the audience seemed a little disenchanted and not as energetic as they were for songs from older albums. i suppose it is quite hard to keep all of your fans continuously interested, and to evolve and change at the same pace you do. they are still doing pretty well though, all things considered.  

i think they managed to play all the songs i love. i don’t often get that from such a large gig by such a huge band. i was quite lucky indeed. and you know those times when you recognise the song from the very first note or sound? my brother did completely when a movie script ending first began. he was the first to scream, and did so so loudly, people around us got quite a surprise. but it is his fav, so he was allowed.  

death cab finished their amazing set with marching bands of manhattan but then after, a reasonably long applause, they came back out to do an encore of no less than five songs. we all loved it. 

and then it was sad that it was the end.

so please continue your work, death cab for cutie. if you’re still putting on shows such as this, to such varied audience types, there seems to be no stopping you yet.

if you don’t know this band, allow their music to educate, and follow them here for news on their new albums and for details of the next time they play in a town near you.

my brother and i will, of course, be there once more. 

a few sunday afternoons ago, the enchanting chris taylor and his band cant blew us away. 

as part of this years sydney festival, cant performed their set under the shelter of the ever famous spiegeltent. inside and out of the rain, their dreamy, but rhythmically driven electro-pop was amazing to see live. with nuances that seemed more interesting and enticing live than on their album, the band were a tight knot of musicality. 

frontman chris taylor also plays in one of my favourite bands, grizzly bear. not only does he master the bass and belt out backing vocals, chris has produced the last three grizzly albums. and if all of this hasn’t kept him busy, chris and ethan silverman have built their own record company, terrible records, which has produced such albums as rise above by the dirty projectors and forget by twin shadow (who’s in town for the laneway festivals…).

and even though cant’s soulful, experimental sound felt slightly out of place in the daylight, the incredible travelling spiegeltent was a complementary setting. everyone managed to get their head dance groove on, whilst siting back on their rickety deck chairs. 

with a great supporting band of synth and guitar, it was the drummer that captured my gaze. with a steady beat coming through the electronic sounds, the drums were able to take on an exciting, off beat and more complex role. such fun to watch. and chris’ vocals were stunning for the entire set, particularly on the track believe. what honest and challenging lyrics. 

but it was his cute manner and sincerity that topped it off. it is inspiring to watch musicians that are not only great at their art-form, but who love all of it completely. chris taylor and cant are just that.    

be sure to let their album, dreams come true, sweep you away. and keep all eyes peeled for their return to aus.

the things i haven’t shown you you won’t believe. 

the things i haven’t told you you won’t believe.