Artist of the Week #0046 - Hannah Cameron
This week's Artist of the Week is alt-folk artist Hannah Cameron, who's new album 'I Lay Where You Lie' is out today, which is eight songs of complete beauty. Hannah took a moment to chat to us about how the album came together -
What are the ideas and themes behind the album?
I definitely didn’t set out to write a concept album but I think that the period of time during which most of the songs were written was one where I was interested in getting out of my own head. Many of the songs are written in the first person about the experiences of others and the songs about my own life were composed through a more external, detached lense. Songwriting can sometimes feel like a fairly narcissistic exercise and I guess that this was my way of trying to be more empathetic in my writing (and just in general). It’s an album about relationships and friendships in all of their complexity and with all of their imperfections.
How would you describe it to someone who has never listened to you before?
Hmm that’s a tough one. From a songwriting perspective I think my music falls loosely under the banner of folk but I’ve been influenced pretty heavily by music from jazz, country, bluegrass, rock and classical traditions so I’d say it’s a fairly eclectic sounding album in that respect.
Where was it recorded? Any behind the scenes stories?
Most of the album was recorded in a small studio in Brunswick, Melbourne. James Gilligan and I spent the better part of the year producing the album together, inviting friends in to add little bits of their magic throughout. We had the luxury of time so we were kind of arranging and tracking simultaneously which I think allowed us to capture some of the spontaneity and excitement that comes with hearing or playing something for the first time. Once the instrumental tracks were laid down, we went to SoundPark Recording Studio to record the vocals. We had two days booked (which I had thought was going to be kind of tight) but some strange sort of magic occurred and finished them on the first day. We still had the second day booked so we invited our good friend Louis King in to track some acoustic guitar (which you can hear on Moth To Flame).
What are the plans for the rest of the year?
I’m going to be touring the album throughout July and August and then I’ve booked a bit of a spontaneous trip to America throughout September/October where I intend to see and hear lots of great music (and hopefully make a start on the next album!).
Feature created by Ant Adams