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BLUE FOR YOU
It's just what we need - a summer song in winter. Suffering
from the winter blues? Check out Susy Blue and her sparkling
new single, Wish In My Dish (www.susyblue.net).
More infectious than the flu, it is, as Susy says, "a happy
celebration of being young and free … a kooky stream of
consciousness flow". Was it as much fun to record as it
sounds? "Yes," Susy exclaims, "we started with stomps and
handclaps … how can you go wrong?" Producer Shane O'Mara
then added clinking jewellery and flute key slaps. "And
we even recorded his crazy little dogs barking." The song's
catchy title is simply the start of the fun. "It was just
a random stream of consciousness ramble," Susy says. "I
was doing FAWM (February Album Writing Month), an internet
forum where you write/upload a demo of a new song every
two days. I was writing in my garden and there were all
these dandelions floating in the air. I think one landed
on a dog bowl near the pond. I've always blown on them and
made a wish, so to have so many floating through the beautiful
summery air made me feel happy and hopeful."
Wish In My Dish is from Susy Blue's forthcoming second album,
which follows 2011's Curly Girl. The difficult second album?
"No difficulties at all," Susy smiles. Shane, she says,
is "hilarious", adding, "I was so determined to maintain
control over our first album but, after working with Shane,
I think it's way better to have another person, provided
that they're great and you like them and trust their taste."
So what's Susy's all-time favourite "happy"
song? "Oh, that's a tough question, can I have two? Over
the last couple of years, it's been Little Joy's Brand New
Start; more long-term, The Specials' A Message to You, Rudy."
And her favourite sad song? "Many Tori Amos songs guided
me through my sullen adolescence, the most rainy day one
being Horses off Boys for Pele." Susy Blue is also a band.
"It refers to me as well as the band," she explains. "Susan
Hull is my real - and boring - name." As Susan Hull, she
studied classical flute at the Queensland Conservatorium,
where she was inspired by Emma Dean, Jackie Marshal and
Katie Noonan. "I was terrified by the prospect of singing
publicly, let alone something as personal as a song I had
written," Susy says. "These amazing ladies had amazing voices,
personas, stage presence, wrote great songs and totally
did their own thing - a huge inspiration."
Susy was blonde, but now she's a brunette. Do blondes have
more fun? "I suppose I was younger with blonde hair and
definitely wilder, but I think I can only blame my lack
of wisdom and responsibility for that rather than my hair!
Though there's not much more wisdom or responsibility going
on now - I can't even commit to getting a dog, which would
make me insanely happy, or a part-time job." Susy was part
of the FReeZA Central mentoring program. "It was great,"
she says. "My mentor was Suzannah Espie, who is a legend,
so it was a privilege to have her support. And I made some
great friends and contacts." Susy also has plenty of supportive
fans, including her mum, who sold a Susy Blue CD to her
dentist. So what's been Susy's favourite description of
the Susy Blue sound? "Songs full of light and flight, that
are free, fun and on the fringe, yet nestled in pop overtones."
Yep, that sums it up nicely. Susy Blue launches Wish In
My Dish with a special afternoon show at the Workers Club
on Sunday, 11 August.
WIDE WORLD
The remarkable Ron S. Peno celebrated his birthday last
Friday with the release of the third Darling Downs album,
In The Days When The World Was Wide, which he launched the
following night with Kim Salmon at the Toff. It was a stunning
showcase of one of the year's finest albums. The consensus
seems to be four-and-a-half stars, with the record already
receiving that rating in The Age, The Weekend Australian
and Stack. "The Darling Downs' world is vast and fertile,"
Patrick Emery wrote in The Age, while Peter Lalor stated
in The Weekend Australian: "Hell, it's all good and verging
on an Australian classic."
CHART WATCH
Vance Joy hits the Top 10.
Riptide VANCE JOY (number 10)
Parachute TIMOMATIC (13)
Resolution MATT CORBY (14)
Fire Starter SAMANTHA JADE (18)
Reload SEBASTIAN INGROSSO & TOMMY TRASH (20)
To The End Of The Earth JESSICA MAUBOY (22, debut)
Sheppard EP SHEPPARD (27)
Act Yo Age BLISS N ESO (34)
Alive EMPIRE OF THE SUN (35)
Karnivool debut at number one - just four months after Ian
Kenny's other band, Birds of Tokyo, topped the charts.
Asymmetry KARNIVOOL (number one, debut)
Circus In The Sky BLISS N ESO (three)
More Than A Dream HARRISON CRAIG (four)
A Time For Us LUKE KENNEDY (10)
The Great Country Songbook TROY CASSAR-DALEY & ADAM HARVEY
(12)
This Music CELIA PAVEY (18)
Sharkmouth RUSSELL MORRIS (21)
Departures BERNARD FANNING (22)
Glorious Ruins HILLSONG LIVE (28)
The Beginning And The End Of Everything JOSH PYKE (30)
Ice On The Dune EMPIRE OF THE SUN (32)
As The Crow Flies DANNY ROSS (40)
HOWZAT! PLAYLIST
Wish In My Dish SUSY BLUE
Little Dreams JAMES HAZELDEN
Saved THE DARLING DOWNS
Stolen Cars THE WEEKEND PEOPLE
Everything Is Everything MAJOR CHORD
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