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SAD SONGS SAY SO MUCH
When Mike Brady was playing at the Port Fairy Folk Festival
last year, he was confronted by a punter. "Don't you know
anything happy?" the man enquired. "No," Mike replied, "I'm
Irish - I'm only happy when I'm sad." Mike was half-joking;
he's a jovial fellow and a wonderful raconteur, but he connected
with his Irish roots on his latest album, Bloodlines, The
Australian Irish Story, "the defining album of his career",
according to radio doyen Billy Pinnell. "The Irish express
their sadness," Mike says. "They are full of melancholy.
I think it's a sad album, which is why there's a tear on
the cover." A standout is the stunning A Song Of Whispered
Sighs. "It's about a girl I really loved," Mike reveals.
"She gave me a lingering kiss and a lingering hug and then
walked out of my life. I didn't know she was ill. I was
going to see her two hours later, but that wasn't to be.
She'd been diagnosed with a terminal illness and she didn't
want me to be part of that. Typical male ego, I thought
she'd run off with another bloke." While in Ireland making
the album, Mike spotted a bridge called The Bridge of Sighs.
"I must have self-consciously absorbed that, and I wrote
the song a few weeks later." "I've learnt that life can
be unkind," he sings. Mike's dad was Irish, and Mike lived
in Ireland when he was a baby, but didn't return until he
was 64, to visit his son, Christian, who now calls Ireland
home. "Within an hour, I just loved it," Mike smiles. "I
understood myself immediately. I felt at home, with the
people, the humour and the culture. Our culture is dominated
by sport, and music is a low priority. A lot of people disagree
with that, but I think it's true. Over there, they love
literature and they love telling stories - it's like a spectator
sport." Mike hopes to return to make another album, but
first, he's playing at The Flying Saucer Club on Friday
(12 Feb).
HANDS SOLO
Charles Jenkins is playing every Wednesday in Feb at The
Retreat Hotel.
LOVE GOES ON
The Go-Betweens great Grant McLennan would have been 58
on 12 Feb.
HOT LINE
"Too many words are left unsaid, say 'em while you can"
- Mike Brady, Say It While You Can.
CHART WATCH
Flume spends a second week at number two with one of two
songs he has in the Top 40.
Never Be Like You FLUME (number two)
Hoops THE RUBENS (nine)
Keeping Score LDRU (16)
Youth TROYE SIVAN (22)
Smoke & Retribution FLUME (23, debut)
Cheap Thrills SIA (27)
The Trouble With Us MARCUS MARR & CHET FAKER (31)
My Sunshine MASHD N KUTCHER (34)
Sia scores her second number one album.
This Is Acting SIA (number one, debut)
Bloom RÜFÜS (six)
Molly Soundtrack VARIOUS (nine)
Hoops THE RUBENS (16)
Currents TAME IMPALA (18)
Blue Neighbourhood TROYE SIVAN (21)
Adam Brand And The Outlaws ADAM BRAND AND THE OUTLAWS (24)
Triple J Like A Version Vol. 11 VARIOUS (28)
Limit Of Love BOY & BEAR (31)
Dream Your Life Away VANCE JOY (33)
The Guilt and The Grief POLARIS (34, debut)
HOWZAT! PLAYLIST
A Song Of Whispered Sighs MIKE BRADY
Cool Breeze SAL KIMBER
Kid Gloves RON S. PENO & THE SUPERSTITIONS
Tearing Up The Lawn MIA DYSON
High On High JOHN FLANAGAN
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