Oh Mercy - Interview

Oh Mercy have been a teetering ball of potential for a year or two, ever since their precociously solid folk-rock tunes had them win a 2007 Melbourne Big Day Out slot after only a handful of shows. And now look at them, certified Triple J darlings, with Lay Everything on Me and Seemed Like a Good Idea getting absolutely flogged. Despite their prolificness, they have just released their first EP proper, excluding 2007's unreleased Expats & Eczema.

Frontman Alexander Gow consented to answer a couple of questions about their continuing ascendancy:

You were first introduced to JJJ audiences with your 2007 Unearthed win, how did it feel experiencing such success in your first band a year out of school? How does it compare with your current success now?

It was a wonderful experience and privilege winning unearthed. It was an acknowledgment that we were writing good songs, on the live performance side of things we weren’t prepared at all. Since then we have changed our entire setlist three times over and have concentrated on our live show. So in a way, our current success cant compare to that initial success as it feels like we’re a different band.

A lot is made of your stream of consciousness lyrical style, how do you reconcile that side of things with what are otherwise very tight and melodic pop songs? What is the songwriting dynamic of Oh Mercy like?

Those two elements come together very naturally in Oh Mercy.

Thom and I will work on a piece of music then I will simply write a bunch of lyrics to match the mood of the music and using very simple and standard phrasing the ‘not so standard’ lyrics blend easily with the pop song.

You recorded your album last year with Myles from The Panics. Did having a member of such a popular and established Australian act around have a noticeable effect on how the album developed?

I suppose so. Having the guys from the Panics around encouraged us to make a record of a higher standard because we respect their music so much and didn’t want to waste their time with anything half arsed.

Also, having been recorded 18 months ago, how reflective is the album of where Oh Mercy currently stand?

We stand on the same ground. We still love playing all those songs and our new songs . We are writing new music when we’re not on the stage.

And, at last, what albums are currently getting a workout in the Oh Mercy tour van?

Q Tip – Renaissance
Television – Marque Moon
And a cast collection of sounds of nature type cd’s.

The puntastically titled In The Nude For Love EP is out now through itunes and shops, with the slightly more conservatively dubbed album Privileged Woes out in late August.

check out their myspace
and, puzzlingly, an alternative myspace with their first demo recordings.

Mapletons

Mapletons are a Brisbane duo in the acoustic style who, aside from bearing a passing resemblance to Flight of the Conchords, make well crafted contemporary folk pop with a knack for subtly awesome hooks. Their 2007 Santa Barbara EP yielded two impressive JJJ-spun tunes, and they've since built on their initially sparse piano and guitar arrangments for a more rounded sound with their second EP, Canyon Falls.

In a way the extra instrumentation almost loses a bit of the bare prettiness of their first songs, but it is nontheless an interesting insight into their musical progression as they refine their Beach Boys via José Gonzalez sound.

Both EP's are avaliable through iTunes.

Mapletons - The Fire Bridge

myspace

Special Patrol

Led by their eternally Andy Capp-hatted singer Myles Mayo and his old time folk rock tunes, Adelaide's Special Patrol kind of bridge the gap between Goldstein and say, popular music. Their last album Handy Hints from the Undertaker joined the small but esteemed club of Adelaide made concept albums (see Lily Perdida), as it followed the writer and his two childhood friends as they grew up and apart, encountering depression, failure and many other cheerful themes coated in a-ray-of-sunshine-on-an-overcast-day acoustic pop tunes.

Their follow-up album is yet to appear, but they are releasing the first single (Right On/New Year's Eve) from it on the 23rd. It even has a children's choir!

Special Patrol - Changing Emily

myspace

Poly&theStatics

While it might seem a bit redundant posting about an Adelaide band long since dead, whose career peaked with a few key local support slots (Lemonheads, others I'm sure) and a wad of JJJ Unearthed attention, with Richard Kingsmill, Zan Rowe and even Patience Hodgson praising their tunes, what the heck, I like em that much.

With the 2007 release of their third EP, in which they perfected the two sides of their twitchy rock/whimsical pop coin, they split, their members eventually re-configuring into two new bands that distilled elements of each side: The Honey Pies and Billy Bishop Goes To War (what a knack for excellent band names). But since these bands havent put anything out yet, I'll take the opportunity to revel in their former glory.

Here are two tracks from Paper Lanterns, that encapsulate the stylistic dichotomy that made them so darn cool.

Poly&theStatics - I Know Too Well
Poly&theStatics - Hide the Bottles

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Cathy Petocz

Cathy Petocz is a Canberra singer whose jazz-inflected piano tunes and voice are akin to an Australian Regina Spektor. She found some acclaim in 2007 when she won a JJJ Unearthed songwriting competition, and endeared herself to my ears through her work with the aforementioned Margaret Helen King. She now focusses on life as a solo performer, and launched her self-titled album, Cathy Petocz, early this year.

At times she reminds me of a female Ben Folds circa Songs for Silverman. That may just hinge on the fact they both wear glasses and play piano, but they do share a similarly chipper melancholy in their music.

Here is the tune that she re-recorded with Triple J. Her album is avaliable on iTunes.

Cathy Petocz - Wake Up O Sleeper

myspace