Australian singer-songwriter, and sometime producer, Jamie Hutchings was the front man for Indie band 'Bluebottle Kiss' and, more recently, formed the rocking quartet 'Infinity Broke'. He has also collaborated with fellow Aussie Peter Fenton under the name 'The Tall Grass'.
For his fourth solo album he retreated into the outback and eschews power chords and heavy percussion for a set of pared-back songs from a room.
The nine tunes were written and recorded in a former shearing shed and Hutchings says: "It’s a personal record, but (I hope) not without humour. I’d wanted to make a record as stark as this for many years."
The lyrics give the impression of being lifted from private notebooks or diaries with sober reflections on life, love and memories. There are no choruses or obvious hooks. One track is called Walking Dream, a title that could fit well for any of the songs.
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The centrepiece is December Park which documents a walk in an empty park filled with sense of foreboding: "I smell a storm about to come".
I have to say that, overall, I didn't detect much humour but these are striking songs about lonely days spent trying to shake off feelings of dread.
Jamie Hutchings' website
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